'^4*  <f 


Post  Exchange  Methods 

by 
CAPTAIN  PAUL  D.  BUNKER 

UNITED  STATES  ARMY 

A  manual  for  Exchange    Stewards,  Exchange  Offi- 
cers, Members  of  Exchange  Councils  Command- 
ing Officers,  being  an  exposition  of  a  simple 
and  efficient  system  of  accounting  which 
is  applicable   to  large   and  to  small 
Exchanges  alike. 


General  Agents 

THE  EAGLE  PRESS  Service  Printers 
Portland,  Me. 


Copyright  1915 

The  Eagle  Press  -  Portland,  Me. 
All  rights  Reserved 


3JL9S  A 


PREFACE. 


Our  Post  Exchanges  are  usually  in  charge  of  officers  with 
little  or  no  experience  in  bookkeeping,  their  assistants  are 
usually  enlisted  men  and  not  professional  clerks  and  account- 
ants, and  there  is,  at  present,  no  codified  or  standard  system 
prescribed  for  handling  this  business.  Some  parts  of  the  Post 
Exchange  Regulations  have  become  antiquated  through  the 
developments  of  modern  business  methods  such  as  the 
"Voucher  Check  System". 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  felt  that  there  is  a  real  need  of 
this  book,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  methods  herein  set  forth 
will  prove  to  be  a  step  toward  a  uniform  system  that  will  be 
adopted  in  all  Exchanges,  one  that  will  reduce  overhead 
charges,  eliminate  unnecessary  labor  and  improve  unsatis- 
factory profits. 

The  writer  intended  discussing  several  other  important 
points,  such  as  Journal  Entries,  Mail  Order  Business,  Con- 
signment, Adding  Machines,  Loose-leaf  and  Card  Index 
Filing,  etc.,  but  circumstances  over  which  he  had  no  control 
prevent,  at  present,  any  addition  to  these  pages. 

It  is  desired  to  give  credit  to  Captain  Henry  M.   Dich 
minn    2!th  Infantry,  who  by  his  work  in  connection  with  the 
Post  Exchange  at  Fort  Slocum,  N.  Y.,  was  the  inspiration  for 
this  work,  and  to  Mr.  James  Parker,  Cashier  of  the  same  Ex- 
change, for  valuable  assistance  rendered. 

PAUL  D.  BUNKER, 
Captain,  Coast  Artillery  Corps. 

Fort  Hancock,  N.  ]"•« 
June  7,  10 IT). 


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BOOK. 

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COUPON  BOOKS 

TO  BE  EFFECTIVE,  MUST   BE 

Absolutely  Accurate 


SOUTHERN  COUPON  CO. 

Are  exclusive  manufacturers  of  every  kind  of 
COUPON  BOOKS,  and  owing  to  their  per- 
fect checking  system,  are  in  position  to  guaran- 
tee absolute  accuracy,  perfect  workmanship  and 
highest  quality. 

Each  Coupon  is  Numbered 

To  correspond  with  number  on  cover,  hence 
even  detached  coupons  can  readily  be  identified 
to  their  respective  book — a  great  advantage. 


WRITE  TO-DAY  FOR  SAMPLES  AND  PRICES  TO 

THE  SOUTHERN  COUPON  COMPANY 

Box  346    &    BIRMINGHAM,  ALA. 


LOWEST  POSSIBLE  PRICES  TO  POST 
EXCHANGES  AND  SHIP  STORES 


The  Army   and  Navy  Co-Operative  Company  is 

splendidly  equipped  to  serve  Post  Exchanges  anil  Ship 

stores  WELL. 

By  WELL,  we  mean: 

Offering  reliable,  fresh,  new  merchandise  at  the  lowest 
possible  wholesale  prices. 

Offering   large   assortments  of   merchandise   to  select 
from. 

Offering  efficient  service  and  quick  deliveries. 

Buying  from  the   Army  and  Navy   Co-Operative   Com- 
pany means  more  sales  and  larger  profits. 
Write  for  our  Prices  on  Such  Articles 
as  you  may  need. 


ARMY  AND  NAVY  CO-OPERATIVE  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  STORE  AND  GENERAL  OFFICES 

16  East  42nd  Street,  near  5th  Ave.,  New  York 

Store  Store 

1123-5  So.  Broad  Street  721-7  17th  Street  N.  W. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.  Washington,  D.  C. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Post  Exchange  Methods   1 

Desiderata. 

Charge    Sales    ......... 2 

General — Method  of  Making — Daily  Check  Summary — Recording 
— Consolidating  Credit  Transactions — Settling  Dead  and  Live 
Records. 

Cash   Sales 29 

General — Cash  Book. 

Coupon  Sales    33 

General — Kinds  of  Coupons — Frauds — Regulations — Issuing — 
Pay  Table  Procedure — Coupon  Sales. 

Stock   Records    50 

General — Inventories — Merchandise  Purchased — Transfers  Be- 
tween Departments  —  Consolidating  Transactions  —  Checking 
Stock  and  Sales. 

Purchase    Records    60 

General  —  Purchase  Orders  —  Purchase  Record  —  Payments — 
Voucher  Check  System — Cash  Disbursements. 

The  Ledger  72 

General — Make-up — Ledger  Accounts — Posting  the  Ledger — 
Balancing. 

Monthly    Statements    81 

General — General  Balance  Sheet — Surplus  and  Adjustments — 
Statement  of  Income  and  Profit  and  Loss. 

Pay    Rolls .87 

Figuring  Selling  Prices   89 


Laundries  

General— Bills      Receivable — Piece      Work — Damage      Report — 
Claims — Inventories — Pay  Rolls — Miscellaneous  Books. 


Auditing    UU 

General  Duties  Auditor's  Statement. 

Cash    Registers    103 

Conclusion    . 106 


ECONOMICAL 
Use  roll  printed  stationery 
and  carbon,  eliminating  as- 
sembling of  loose  printed 
blanks  and  carbons— all  auto- 
matic—no wasted  effort. 

MANIFOLDER 


EFFICIENT 

Whatever  is  written  upon  the 
orignal  appears  fac-simile  on 
the  duplicate  and  triplicate 
alike.  A  loading  consists  of 
about  500  sheets. 


RECORDER 


HOUPCRIOR     MANIFOLDER 

In  use  in  U.  S.  Army  Posts,  Naval  Stations  and  ships  for  ten  years. 

POSITIVE  ALIGNMENT  AND  REGISTRATION 

The  SHOUPALIGNER  our  newest  device  has  special  features  of  automatic 
alignment  and  registration  of  the  form  with  automatic  measured  throw  and  stop. 
Absolutely  essential  where  duplicates  and  triplicates  are  printed,  requiring  exact 
registration  and  alignment  with  the  orignal.  Our  Service  Department  serves  you 
with  the  most  economical  and  efficient  systems  for  the  results  desired. 


AUTOGRAPHIC  REGISTER  CO., 


HOBOKEN,  N.  J. 


ALL  BLANK  FORMS 

SHOWN   IN 

POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

CAN  BE  OBTAINED 

AT  LOWEST   PRICES,   AND  IN 

ANY  QUANTITY 

FROM 

THE  EAGLE  PRESS,  PORTLAND,  ME. 


PIONEER  PRINTERS  TO  THE  ARMY 


ENGRAVING 

STEEL  DIE  EMBOSSING 
PLATE  PRINTING 

POST  AND  ORGANIZATION 
STATIONERY 

THE  EAGLE  PRESS 
Portland,  Me. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS. 


The  general  methods  of  conducting  a  Post  Exchange  are  laid  down 
in  official  orders  and  considering  the  categorical  nature  of  these  orders 
it  would  seem  that  the  systems  in  all  Exchanges  should  be  almost  identi- 
cal. Such,  however,  is  far  from  the  truth,  as  there  are  almost  as  many 
systems  as  there  are  Exchanges,  and  a  person  in  charge  of  one  Exchange 
might  have  to  learn  considerable  new  matter  before  he  would  be  able 
to  administer  the  affairs  of  another  Exchange.  This  variety  of  systems 
also  causes  trouble  to  auditing  officers,  exchange  councils  and  to  in- 
spectors when  they  have  occasion  to  go  over  the  books.  Some  of  the 
systems  are  unsound  in  minor  particulars,  and  most  of  them  are  poorly 
designed.  All  trouble  of  this  rfature  could  be  avoided  by  devising  a  stand- 
ard system  and  installing  it  in  all  Exchanges.  The  advantages  of  such 
a  proceeding  would  be  manifold  and  there  would  be  no  important  dis- 
advantages. In  this  essay  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  evolve  such  a 
system,  one  applicable  to  any  Exchange,  representing  the  best  points  of 
many  Exchanges  and  including  at  all  possible  points  the  labor  saving 
results  of  modern  methods.  The  system  here  described  is  not  the  em- 
bodiment of  theory  alone,  but  has  been  through  the  test  of  actual  trial 
and  has  given  thorough  satisfaction. 

In  devising  any  such  scheme  we  must  presuppose  certain  desiderata : — 

1.  The  Exchange  Officer  can  spend  but  a  small  portion  of  his  time 
in  the  Exchange,  and  yet  he  must  have  accurate  knowledge  of  what  the 
business  is   doing.     It   is   therefore  essential  that  our  records   shall  show 
accurately  and  concisely  all  the  data  that  are  necessary  to  a  full  under- 
standing of  the  condition  and  operations  of  the  business. 

2.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  a  system  which  will  enable  us  to  render 
a  clear  statement  at  the  end  of  the  month,  we  should  be  able  to  close  our 
books  at  any  time  and  get  out  our  financial  statement  in  the  minimum  time. 

'I.  Our  system  should  be  such  as  to  minimize  the  possibilities  of 
peculation.  It  is  often  said  that  there  is  no  system  which  cannot  be  beaten, 
but  there  are  systems  which  cannot  be  defeated  for  any  great  length  of 
time.  Therefore,  our  system  must  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  time  during 
which  graft  or  theft  can  work  undisturbed. 

4.  The  system  must  be  so  simple  that  it  will  not  require  exceptional 
ability  at  any  point  in  order  that  its  provisions  may  properly  be  carried 


2  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

out.  This  makes  it  easy  to  break  in  new  clerks,  and  enables  theix  to  per- 
form their  duties  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner. 

5.  The  system  must  not  be  so  cumbersome  that  it  will  delay  the 
making  of  sales.  This  is  highly  important.  Every  reader  of  this  will 
undoubtedly  have  vivid  recollections  of  his  experiences  in  department 
stores,  "waiting  for  change."  It  is  better  to  lose  a  dollar  than  to  disgust 
our  customers  and  drive  them  elsewhere. 

The  above  requirements  cannot  but  cause  our  system  to  be  some- 
what more  expensive  than  that  used  in  a  "one-man  store".  In  the  latter 
instance,  as  a  proprietor  will  not  cheat  himself,  the  third  requirement  lias, 
in  general,  no  effect.  The  other  requirements,  however,  will  still  hold, 
and  even  gain  in  importance.  How  many  merchants  have  we  seen  who 
thought  they  knew  all  about  their  business,  but  who  in  reality  knew  very 
little.  They  did  ont  even  realize  that  slipshod  methods  curtail  credit  and 
beget  losses  of  various  sorts. 

In  describing  this  system  we  shall  take  up  the  various  features  in  the 
order  in  which  they  will  be  found  easiest  to  install.  For  instance,  charge 
sales  are  discussed  first  because,  regardless  of  the  system  of  handling 
these  sales  that  may  be  in  use  by  any  Exchange,  it  will  be  found  that  to 
change  to  the  system  here  described,  before  changing  any  other  part  of 
the  system,  will  cause  no  confusion  in  the  other  books.  In  other  words, 
if  your  system  be  changed  according  to  the  order  in  which  the  different 
parts  are  discussed  herein,  you  will  find  that  you  have  gradually  installed 
a  system  which  may  be  entirely  different,  yet  you  have  caused  no  confusion 
in  your  books  by  the  transition. 

CHARGE  SALES. 
General. 

This  item  includes  the  sale  of  merchandise  to  (1)  officers,  ("2) 
civilians,  (3)  enlisted  men  authorized  to  buy  on  credit.  Such  sales  are 
practically  cash,  being  paid,  usually,  within  a  very  short  time. 

The  practice  of  extending  credit  to  civilians  is  not  encouraged  by  the 
authorities  and  the  Exchange  Officer  should  secure  permission  beforehnul 
in  case  it  is  desired  to  transact  this  kind  of  business.  In  some  cases  of 
isolated  posts  it  is  to  the  best  'interest  of  the  government  that  civilu .\u- 
employed  or  living  on  the  post  be  allowed  credit  at  the  Exchange,  a.?  h 
might  otherwise  be  impossible  for  the  Government  to  retain  their  services 
or  for  the  civilians  to  subsist  themselves.  It  is  to  take  care  of  such  cases 
that  this  feature  is  mentioned.  In  opening  a  charge  account  with  ;i 
civilian,  care  must  be  exercised  to  prevent  a  probability  of  loss  to  tlu- 
Exchange,  as  one  bad  account  might  wipe  out  the  profits  from  all  such 
accounts  for  a  considerable  time.  If  a  civilian  is  deserving  of  the  privilege 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  3 

of  purchasing  at  the  Exchange  he  should  have  no  objection  to  conferring 
with  the  Post  Exchange  Officer  and  making  satisfactory  arrangements 
with  his  employer. 

With  enlisted  men,  the  case  is  more  difficult.  In  general,  the  soldier 
makes  his  credit  purchases  by  means  of  coupons.  But  if  the  Exchange  handles 
some  such  proposition  as  an  ice  delivery  route,  it  is  impossible  to  do 
business  with  the  patrons  thereof  by  means  of  coupons  of  the  ordinary 
kind.  The  right  method  is  to  apply  to  the  proper  authorities  for  permis- 
sion to  extend  to  married  soldiers  credit  to  such  amounts  as  may  be  recom- 
mended by  their  organization  commanders.  If  this  is  not  done,  and  credit 
other  than  in  the  shape  of  coupons  is  allowed  enlisted  men  or  if  coupons 
or  credit  in  excess  of  one-third  of  the  man's  pay  be  allowed  him,  the 
inspector  will  object  to  it,  as  either  of  these  two  proceedings  is  held  to  be 
unauthorized.  However,  when  there  are  no  other  stores  in  the  vicinity, 
it  seems  but  reasonable  to  think  that  the  Post  Exchange,  instituted  purely 
for  the  benefit  of  the  enlisted  man,  should  be  allowed  to  extend  credit  to 
such  married  soldiers  of  good  reputation  as  may  be  dependent  upon  it 
(and  the  Commissary)  for  the  necessities  of  life.  As  the  married  soldier 
is  usually  a  non-commissioned  officer  of  long  and  honorable  service  (some- 
limes  a  first  sergeant  or  non-commissioned  staff  officer)  with  one  or  more 
children ;  as  the  bulk  of  his  pay  is  usually  spent  for  articles  ordinarily 
carried  in  stock  by  the  Exchange ;  as  the  Exchange  is  the  result  of  benefi- 
cent legislation  and  the  regulations  concerning  same  should  therefore  be 
interpreted  in  a  liberal  manner,  it  follows  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
justice  behind  a  proper  application  for  permission  to  make  charge  sales 
to  such  selected  men. 

In  case  such  permission  is  obtained,  request  should  be  made  on  the 
various  organization  commanders  to  write  a  letter  of  the  following  pur- 
port : — 

FORT  JAY,  N.  Y.,  Mar.  1,  1914. 
From  C.  O.,  Co.  H,  57th  Iirf. 
To   Post  Exchange  Officer. 
Subject,  Credit  to  Enlisted  Men. 

1.  Request  that  the  following  named  members  of  this  organization  be  given 
credit  at  the  Post  Exchange  not  to  exceed  the  amount  set  opposite  their 
respective  names : 

1st  Sergt.  Jaines  E.  Sullivan $   20.00 

Sergt.  Ralph  R.  Strouse 16.00 

*******  ****** 

(Sgd.)  T.  R.  JONES. 

Capt.  57th  Inf. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


Method  of  Making  Charge  Sales. 

At  the  time  each  charge  sale  is  made,  the  clerk  notes  the  transaction 
on  a  "Charge  Sales  Slip,"  provided  for  the  purpose,  noting  the  date,  name 
of  customer,  name  and  number  of  articles  sold,  the  total  price  of  each 
item,  the  total  amount  covered  by  the  slip  and  the  initials  of  the  salesmen. 
See  Fig.  1. 


to  A 


N9   279 


Name 
Address 


(rcwi. 


Figure  1,  (Reduced  in  size) 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


It  has  become  almost  a  rule  that  the  purchaser  shall  receive  a  copy  of 
this  record  of  sale.  Sometimes,  he  does  not  receive  it  until  after  he  has 
paid  his  bill  at  the  end  of  the  month,  a  procedure  followed  in  many  clubs 
and  similar  organizations.  It  is  probably  better  in  Post  Exchange  work 
to  furnish  the  purchaser  with  a  copy  of  the  charge  sales  slip  at  the  time 
the  purchase  is  made,  as  most  of  our  customers  wish  to  keep  track  of  their 
accounts  and  also,  as  will  be  shown  later,  this  method  may  be  made  to  pro- 
mote honesty  in  salesmen  who  might  be  tempted  to  be  otherwise.  As  it 
is,  of  course,  essential  that  we  retain  at  least  one  copy  of  this  sales  slip,  it 
follows  that  the  use  of  some  sort  of  manifolding  device  is  necessary. 
There  are  many  such  devices  on  the  market,  among  which  may  be  men- 
tioned as  representative,  the  manifolding  sales  book  and  the  autographic 
register.  The  former  is  shown  in  Fig.  2  and  the  latter  in  Fig.  3,  from 
which  their  methods  of  operation  are  apparent. 

It  is  patent  that  some 
such  scheme  should  be 
adopted  for  use  in  every 
Exchange,  no  matter 
how  small  that  Exchange 
may  be.  The  advantages 
of  any  of  these  systems 
(even  a  simple  duplicat- 
ing pad)  over  the  painful 
and  inefficient  method  of 


Figure  2. 

recording  all  such  sales  in  an  old 
fashioned  sales  record  book  must 
be  evident  to  every  one.  The  par- 
ticular system  adopted  is  of  minor 
importance  so  long  as  it  is  thor- 
oughly adapted  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  involved.  The 
following  table  is  arranged  for  the 
purpose  of  permitting  a  compari- 
son of  two  systems ;  one  involving 
the  use  of  manifolding  sales 
books  and  the  other  using  an  auto- 
graphic register. 


Figure  3. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


SALES  BOOKS         vs      CASH  REGISTER 


1.     Can  be  carried  by  the  salesman, 
thus  saving  steps  for  him. 


2.  Cost  of  100  duplicating  books 
of  simple  design  with  total  capacity 
of  5000  sales  is  $6.50.  Triplicating 
books  more  expensive.  No  first 
cost  for  machinery. 


3.  Practically  no  counter  space  is 
necessary  for  using  a  sales  book. 

4.  Uniformity  in  size  of  slips  re- 
sults   in    facility    in    handling    and 
filing. 

5.  The    various    copies    of    a    slip 
made  from  a  sales  book  are  more 
apt  to  be  "in  register" — that  is,  the 
various  lines  and  spaces  of  a  lower 
sheet  are   more   apt   to   be   exactly 
under    the    corresponding    ones    of 
the  upper  or  original  sheet. 

6.  The  slips  can  be  tampered  with, 
by    dishonest    salesmen,    unless    a 
''slip-printing"     cash     register,     or 
some  special  device  is  used. 


1.  If  a   cash   register   is   used   the 
salesman   must  go   to   it   to   record 
every    sale,    and    therefore    if    the 
Manifolder   is   located   at   the   cash 
register   no    unnecessary    steps   are 
taken. 

2.  Rolls   of   paper   are   used;   cost 
of    rolls    for    duplicate    records    of 
5000    sales    is    from    $4.50    up,    de- 
pending upon   the   amount   of   spe- 
cial printing  on  the  rolls.    Each  ma- 
chine like  Fig.  3  costs,  retail,  about 
$15.00. 

3.  A  convenient  place  must  be  left 
on  the  counter  for  use  in  recording 
sales. 

4.  By  exercise  of  reasonable  care 
the  size  of  the  slips  approaches  uni- 
formity closely  enough. 

5.  Sometimes  trouble  and  the  ex- 
penditure   of    a    sales    slip    results 
from  the  various  rolls  getting  "out 
of   step".     This   accident,   however, 
is  easy  to  remedy. 


6.  By  using  a  machine  in  which 
the  triplicate  roll  is  wound  up  in- 
side the  machine  as  it  is  used,  no 
tampering  with  the  sales  records  is 
practicable. 
(If  triplicate  records  are  desired.) 


7.  We  may  use  either  two  sheets 
of  carbon  paper*  or  only  one 
double-faced  carbon  sheet  below 
a  tissue  duplicate  and  over  an 
opaque  triplicate. 


8.  If  two  carbon  sheets  are  used, 
both  must  ordinarily  be  shifted  for 
recording  each  successive  sale. 


7.  We  ordinarily  use  at  least  two 
sheets    of    carbon    paper,    and    all 
copies    are    opaque.      The    machine 
is  adjustable,  and  will  either  dupli- 
cate  or  triplicate   according  to  the 
number  of  rolls  used.     It  can  also 
be  used  with  a  transparent   roll. 

8.  The  carbon  sheets  once  fixed  in 
the  machine  require  no  further  at- 
tention except  when  they  are  worn 
out  or  the  rolls  renewed. 


*  Garbon  paper  is  either  single  or  double  faced.  I5y  using  the  latter  between 
two  sales  slips  it  is  evident  that  we  record  our  sale  on  the  first  and  second  slips  and 
also  secure  a  reversed  copy  on  the  back  of  the  original.  It  is  said  that  salesmen 
who  alter  such  slips  for  their  own  gain  are  prone  to  forget  or  overlook  this  noint 
and  are  caught  thereby.  No  alteration  on  a  sales  slip  should  be  tolerated ;  if  the 
clerk  makes  a  mistake  he  should  he  required  to  cancel  and  preserve  all  copies  of  the 
erroneous  slip  and  to  make  out  a  new  one  correctly. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  7 

8a.  By  using  a  transparent  clupli-  8a.  But  the  slips  do  not  protect  us 
cate  and  a  double  faced  sheet  of  so  well  because  the  sales  are  not 
carbon  paper,  the  latter  is  the  only  recorded  on  the  back  of  each  slip 
sheet  that  requires  handling.  (by  reversed  impressions)  as  well 

as  on  the  front. 

8b.  In  this  case,  by  leaving  the  8b.  By  not  tearing  off  the  lower- 
transparent  slips  in  the  book  we  most  sales  slip,  but  leaving  it  at- 
can  easily  checK  ihe  consecutive  tached  to  the  roll  until  the  end  of 
numbers  of  the  slips  and  see  that  the  day,  we  obtain  a  single  strip  of 
all  are  accounted  for.  sales  slips  recording  all  the  charge 

sales  of  the  day.  They  need  not 
be  checked  for  consecutive  num- 
bering unless  there  is  a  break  in 
the  strip. 

8c.     By  previously  clipping  off  the         8c.     In    tearing   off    the    record    of 
corner    of    these    tissue    sheets    the         each     sale     we    automatically    pre- 
book  becomes  self-indexing  and  in         pare  the  machine  to  record  the  next 
opening    the    book    we    turn    auto-         sale, 
matically  to  the  place  for  recording 
the  next  sale. 

It  is  seen  that  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  these  two  systems 
nearly  counterbalance  and  that  the  particular  system  adopted  must  depend 
greatly  upon  the  opinions  of  those  in  charge  of  the  Exchange.  In  the  fol- 
lowing description,  the  use  of  triplicating  records  will  be  assumed. 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  assorting  of  the  slips  handed  in  by  the  various 
"Departments"  of  the  Exchange,  it  is  a  good  idea  to  assign  distinctive 
colors  to  the  original  charge  sales  slips  of  each.  (Of  course, if  there  is  a  very 
large  number  of  departments,  this  idea  would  have  to  be  applied  with 
discretion,  as  it  is  hard  to  recognize  certain  colors  at  night  by  artificial 
light.)  For  example,  let  the  original  sales  slips  used  in  the  store  be  white; 
those  in  the  market,  buff;  those  in  the  shoe  shop,  pink,  etc.  The  duplicate 
slips  should  have  their  own  distinctive  color  and  this  color  should  be  the 
same  for  all  departments.  If  a  triplicate  slip  is  used,  it  should  be  of  still 
another  color  and  the  same  for  all  departments.  Following  out  this 
scheme,  the  utility  of  which  will  appear  presently,  a  color  scheme  might 
be  as  follows  : — 

DEPARTMENT  COLORS  ASSIGNED  TO  CHARGE  SALES  SLIPS 

Original  Duplicate  Triplicate 

Store  White  "Newspaper"  Yellow 

Market  Buff 

Lunch  Salmon 

Tailor  Green 

Barber  Blue 

Shoe  shop  Pink 

If  a  system  of  distinctive  colors  similar  to  the  above  is  not  adopted, 
one  of  two  things  will  be  necessary  in  order  that  we  may  identify  the  slips 


8  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

of  each  department,  unless  we  wish  to  do  so  by  wasting  the  time  in 
deciphering  the  articles  on  each  slip  and  decide  therefrom  the  name  of  the 
responsible  department;  we  must  either  have  the  names  of  the  departments 
printed  on  their  respective  slips  when  they  are  made,  or  these  names  must 
be  marked  on  the  slips  when  the  sales  are  made.  Neither  of  these  methods 
is  as  efficient  as  that  involving  the  use  of  various  colors,  which  tells  auto- 
matically to  what  department  that  slip  belongs.  By  using  distinctive  colors, 
the  printer  would  set  up  only  one  form  for  printing  our  whole  assortment, 
and  our  printing  bill  would  be  correspondingly  reduced. 

In  this  connection,  it  might  be  stated  for  the  benefit  of  the  uninitiated 
that  ordinarily  the  principal  items  in  our  bills  for  printing,  especially  in 
the  case  of  blank  forms,  will  be  found  to  consist  of  the  cost  of  "composi- 
tion", "make-up",  "lock-up",  and  "make-ready".  These  operations  are 
necessary  if  but  one  form  is  printed;  they  need  cost  us  no  more  if  50,000 
copies  are  printed.  Paper  is  comparatively  cheap,  so  it  usually  costs  us 
little  more  to  print  5,000  copies  than  to  print  1,000.  So  we  can  see  that 
in  the  case  of  blank  forms  the  cost  per  unit  varies  inversely  as  the  quantity 
ordered  at  one  time.  Hence,  if  we  need  such  forms  as  sales  slips,  of 
which  we  may  use  hundreds  per  day,  we  should  order,  say,  a  year's  supply 
at  a  time.  Other  forms  or  sheets  that  are  used  once  a  week  or  once  a 
month  must  be  ordered  in  lots  sufficient  to  last  for  a  longer  time.  As  we 
take  these  up  on  our  Stock  Record,  such  purchases  in  large  quantities  will 
not  disturb  the  worth  of  the  Exchange. 

An  appreciable  amount  in  the  cost  of  our  printing  can  be  saved  by  a 
skillful  arrangement  of  the  matter  on  the  form.  An  experienced  man  can 
sometimes  draft  a  form  so  that  the  charges  for  printing  it  will  be  half 
what  it  would  cost  to  print  the  same  form  arranged  by  a  thoughtless  or 
inexperienced  person.  Tabular  work  costs  money,  and  so  also  does 
"special  rulings".  Experience  or  consultation  with  a  practical  printer  is 
the  only  real  guide  in  this  matter. 

If  any  form  is  used  in  large  numbers,  it  will  pay  to  have  electrotypes 
made,  and  "repeat  orders"  printed  therefrom.  Forms  that  are  seldom  used 
should  not  be  electrotyped,  as  they  will  probably  require  some  alteration 
by  the  time  a  new  supply  is  needed.  An  electrotype  costs  about  $0.25  for 
the  first  square  inch  and  about  $0.04  for  each  additional  square  inch.  Here 
is  another  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  judgment.  Suppose  we  have  a 
large  form  with  printed  heading  and  footing,  but  nothing  in  the  middle  of 
the  sheet;  it  would  be  wasteful  to  electrotype  the  whole  form,  only  the 
heading  and  the  footing  should  be  so  treated.  Now,  let  us  consider  the 
money  wasted  by  having  the  name  of  our  post  printed  on  each  bit  of 
stationery !  It  is  easy  to  see  that  this  is  in  some  cases  a  positive  disad- 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  9 

vantage.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  Form  8,  Fig.  1,  fills  the  requirements 
of  Exchange  methods.  If  a  dozen  Exchanges  order  a  supply  of  these 
forms  and  (as  they  usually  do)  thoughtlessly  require  that  the  names  of 
their  respective  posts  be  printed  on  same,  they  each  pay  a  great  deal  more 
than  they  would  if  they  allowed  the  printer  to  make  an  electrotype  of  this 
form  and  run  off  all  the  jobs  from  the  same  plate.  It  is  hard,  if  not 
impossible,  to  find  any  real  reason  why  this  extra  matter  should  be  placed 
on  many  of  our  forms.  Cooperation  in  matters  of  this  kind  would  go  far 
toward  cutting  down  some  of  our  "overhead  charges"  in  Post  Exchange 
work,  and  to  secure  such  cooperation  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  paper. 

Still  another  way  to  minimize  our  printing  bill  is  to  adopt  standard 
sizes  for  our  forms  and  to  use,  wherever  possible,  the  same  kind  and  color 
of  paper.  Paper  comes  in  sheets  of  certain  sizes  and  if  the  printer  has  to 
waste  a  part  of  each  sheet  in  printing  our  forms,  we  shall  have  to  pay  for 
it.  Uniformity  in  size  also  leads  to  facility  of  filing.  Incidentally,  money 
may  be  saved,  in  some  cases  by  having  two  or  more  forms  printed  together. 
For  example,  suppose  we  have  three  forms,  A,  B  and  C,  to  be  printed  on 
the  same  stock,  and  we  wish  5,000  A;  10,000  B;  and  15,000  C.  If  ordered 
separately,  these  would  entail  30,000  impressions.  Suppose,  however,  that 
they  are  ordered  at  the  same  time,  and  that  the  forms  are  of  such  sizes 
(not  necessarily  equal)  that  they  may  be  printed  together  on  one  sheet 
and  cut  apart  afterwards.  In  such  a  case,  a  saving  might  be  made  as 
follows : — Set  up  each  form  once,  make>  one  electrotype  of  Form  B  and 
two  of  Form  C;  place  these  with  the  originals  and  there  will  result,  in  one 
"form"  three  Forms  C,  two  Forms  B,  and  one  Form  A,  and  a  "run"  of 
5,000  impressions  will  print  the  lot  ordered.  There  is  a  saving  of  the  cost 
of  running  5,000  Form  B  and  10,000  Form  C  less  the  cost  of  electrotypes 
(if  they  are  not  on  hand)  and  of  the  extra  work  of  locking  up  and  making 
ready  same.  Of  course,  such  a  procedure  assumes  that  a  considerable 
supply  of  forms,  say,  not  less  than  a  total  of  5,000,  is  ordered  at  one  time. 
For  a  fewer  number,  there  would  be  no  saving  unless  electrotypes  were 
already  on  hand. 

To  return,  now,  to  our  sales  slips.  It  will  be  noted  that  our  triplicate 
copies  are  the  same  for  all  departments.  They  are  kept  in  .rolls,  if  mani- 
folding machines  are  used,  or  if  triplicating  sales  books  are  used,  the  tissue 
paper  sheets  that  are  left  in  the  books  form  our  retained  record.  In  the 
cases  of  both  the  triplicate  and  the  duplicate  copies,  a  cheap  grade  of  paper 
is  allowable  on  account  of  the  little  handling  these  copies  have  to  withstand. 
Also,  there  is  no  reason  for  their  being  susceptible  of  rapid  assorting  ac- 
cording to  departments.  The  duplicates  are  also  identical  for  all  depart- 
ments, they  go  to  the  customer  at  the  time  of  sale.  In  case  there  is  a 
'discussion  about  any  particular  slip,  the  items  thereon  will  show  conclusive- 


10  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

ly  to  what  department  it  belongs,  as  will  also  the  initials  of  the  salesman. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  positive  advantage  to  have  all  duplicates  of  a 
distinctive  color,  different  from  that  of  the  originals.  Suppose  a  customer 
buys  a  pair  of  shoes  from  the  store  and  later  returns  them.  We  should 
then  give  him  a  slip  crediting  him  with  the  shoes  at  the  selling  price.  To 
do  this,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  fill  out  a  regular  charge  sales  slip  in  the 
usual  manner  except  that  the  word  CREDIT  is  plainly  marked  on  the  slip. 
The  clerk  then  gives  the  customer  the  original  of  this  credit  voucher  and 
files  the  newspaper  duplicate  in  the  usual  way.  Upon  sorting  the  slips  that 
night,  the  duplicate  would  be  noticed,  on  account  of  its  difference  from 
the  other  slips  handed  in  and  would  thus  prevent  mistakes.  Likewise,  if 
it  became  necessary  for,  say,  the  lunch  room  to  buy  a  ham  from  the  market, 
the  market  attendant  could  make  out  his  charge  sales  slip  as  usual,  giving 
the  duplicate  to  the  lunch  room  attendant  with  the  ham.  That  night,  the 
appearance  of  this  grayish  dunlicate  among  the  salmon  originals  handed  in 
by  the  lunch  room  attendant  would  immediately  call  attention  to  the  trans- 
action. It  might  be  stated  here,  at  the  risk  of  lapsing  into  the  axiomatic, 
that  such  a  transaction,  although  favored  by  some  exchanges,  is  not  good 
business.  It  should  be  of  rare  occurrence  a  id  even  then  needs  special 
treatment.  The  proper  procedure  in  such  cases  would  be  to  have  the 
Market  turn  the  ham  back  to  the  Stock  Room,  receive  credit  for  it  and 
then  let  the  Lunch  Room  draw  the  ham  at  the  cost  price.  This  point  is 
more  fully  discussed  in  connection  with  Stock  Records. 

After  the  attendant  has  recorded  the  charge  sale  in  the  proper  manner 
and  given  the  duplicate  slip  to  the  purchaser,  he  still  has  to  dispose  of 
another  copy  (or  two  oilier  copies  if  triplicating  records  are  used).  The 
original  should  be  speared  onto  an  ordinary  file,  each  clerk  having  his  own 
filing  hook  in  a  convenient  but  inconspicuous  place.  The  triplicate  is  left 
in  the  sales  book  or  on  the  roll,  as  the  case  may  be.  In  addition,  the  clerk 
should  be  required  to  ring  up  the  sale  on  the  cash  register.  This  is,  of 
course,  very  important,  and  heroic  measures  should  be  adopted  to  insure 
the  recording  of  every  sale,  of  whatever  kind,  on  the  cash  register.  Means 
to  this  end  can  readily  be  devised.  The  subject  of  cash  registers  is  a  very 
important  one -and  is  discussed  in  detail  elsewhere. 

The  above  operations  are  described  at  some  length,  but  in  reality,  they 
are  simple  in  the  extreme  :  a  customer  makes  a  purchase,  the  clerk  records 
the  sale,  rings  up  the  amount  on  the  cash  register,  gives  the  customer  his 
goods  and  a  copy  of  the  sales  slip  and  sticks  the  other  copy  on  his  file.  If 
the  cash  register  prints  tickets,  he  may  drop  the  ticket  in  his  compartment 
.of  a  box  or  drawer  provided  for  the  purpose,  or  preferably,  give  it  to  the 
customer. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


11 


Daily  Check  of  Charge  Sales 

After  the  day's  business  is  over,  each  clerk  gathers  up  all  his  receipt* 
for  the  day  and  assorts  them  into  three  piles,  representing  the  cash,  coupon 
and  charge  sales,  respectively.  He  then  makes  out  his  salts  report  on 


SALES  REPORT  FOR 


Aug.  4-1915 


Count  by 
Clerk 

Count  by 
Steward 

Cash 
Register 

Correct 

Remarks 

CASH 

CHARGE 

5.75 

5.75 

5.75 

5.75 

COUPONS 

TOTALS 

5.75 

5.75 

5.75 

5.75 

N.  B.-The  Clerk  must  arrange  all  charge  slips  alphabetically  according 
to  names  of  purchasers  and  must  fasten  coupons  into  packets  represent- 
ing $1.00  each. 


O.  C.  MALLORY 


T.  E.  JONES 


FORM  5,  P.  E. 


Clerk. 


Steward. 


Figure  4.  (Reduced  in  size) 

Form  5  as  shown  in  Fig.  4.  This  report  should  be  printed  on  the  face  of 
an  end-opening  envelope  measuring  not  more  than  4^  x  10  inches,  thus 
forming  a  convenient  receptacle  for  the  coupons,  charge  slips  and  cash 
turned  in.  The  printed  form  should  be,  say,  7  ¥2x3  inches.  As  these 
envelopes  are  not  subjected  to  rough  usage,  being  used  but  once,  any  kind 
of  cheap  paper  will  serve  the  purpose.  It  might  be  well  in  certain  cases 
to  have  the  envelopes  match  the  color  of  the  original  charge  sales  slips  for 
that  department,  but  ordinarily,  this  would  be  found  an  unnecessary  re- 
finement. After  making  out  this  sales  report,  the  clerk  places  in  the 
envelope  the  cash,  coupons,  etc.,  and  hands  it  to  the  Post  Exchange  Officer 
or  to  the  Steward,  if  so  authorized.  (For  obvious  reasons,  the  Exchange 
Officer  personally  should  receive  and  check  the  receipts  the  night  of  pay-day 
and  at  intervals  during  the  month,  even  if  the  Steward  is  ordinarily  au- 
thorized to  do  so.)  The  Steward  or  Cashier  has  meanwhile  unlocked  the 
cash  register,  noted  the  readings  of  the  record  wheels  and  taken  out  the 
tape  showing  the  printed  record  of  sales. 

Now.  assuming  that  triplicate  records  are  used,  the  Steward  takes  the 
triplicate  copies — either  book  or  roll — "throws"  them  or  checks  them  for 


12 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


numbering,  to  see  that  all  are  accounted  for,  and  totals  their  value  on  the 
adding  machine.  By  comparing  this  total  with  that  shown  by  the  appro- 
priate wheels  of  the  cash  register,  he  ascertains  if  all  charge  sales  have 
been  rung  up.  If  these  two  agree,  all  is  well,  so  far.  If  they  do  not  agree, 
a  note  is  made  of  the  discrepancy  for  use  in  connection  with  the  operations 
hereafter  described. 

By  this  time,  the  clerks  should  be  ready  to  hand  in  their  reports  and 
receipts.  The  Steward  fills  out  the  rest  of  Form  5  as  called  for  by  th;> 
various  columns  and  abstracts  these  reports  to  his  Form  4  as  shown  in 


THE   POST  EXCHANGE 

Statement  of  Receipts  and  Credit  Accounts 
in  the  various  Departments. 

Depart. 

Cash        Coupons      Charge         Total          Credit 

Store  A. 

5.75 

5.75 
7.10 

1.10 

"       B. 

7.10 

"      C. 

4.50 

4.50 

"      D. 

1.05 

1.05 

"       E. 

1.10 

Total 

.50 

8.15 

5.75 

18.40 
7.80 

Lunch 

4.50 

5.10 
.10 

2.20 

Market 

1.00 

3.25 

4.35 

Soda 

.20 

4.50 

4.70 

Milk 

Ice 

Totals 
Collected 

6.20 

17.85 

11.20 

35.25 

1.10 

17.60 

$        54.00 
Coupons  Issued 

Total 

23.80 

I  certify  that  the  abov 

Approved: 
R 

FORM  4,  P.  E.  Date           AUG.  4. 

e  statement  is  correct. 

F.  E.  JONES 
Steward 

.   S  MORTON 
Exchange  Officer 

1914 

Figure  5,  (Reduced  in  size) 

POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  13 

Fig.  5.  This  form  should  be  printed  on  a  card  measuring  3Mj  x  8->s  inches, 
to  permit  convenient  filing.  If  printed  on  thin  paper,  it  will  have  to  be 
tiled  on  a  Shannon  file  which  is  not  so  convenient  in  the  long  run.  These 
cards  should  be  of  fairly  good  stock,  as  they  are  a  part  of  the  permanent 
records  of  the  Exchange,  but  should  be  no  heavier  than  necessary.  The 
Steward  carries  down  the  totals  on  Form  4  and  compares  them  with  the 
three  separate  totals  shown  by  the  cash  register.  Restricting  ourselves  to  a 
discussion  of  the  charge  sales,  we  see  that  if  the  total  of  the  triplicate  slips, 
the  totals  of  the  clerks'  reports  and  the  total  shown  by  the  cash  register  all 
agree  then  the  charge  sales  statement  shown  on  Form  4  is  correct.  If 
there  is  any  discrepancy  in  this  or  any  other  column  of  Form  4  the  mistake 
should  be  found  and  corrected  before  the  clerks  are  dismissed  for  the 
night.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  the  cash  register  shows  a  total  of  $20.60 
charge  sales  for  the  day  and  .the  total  on  Form  4  is  $21.90.  The  first  step 
is  to  have  the  clerks  make  sure  that  their  reports  correctly  state  the  actual 
amount  of  charge  sales  slips  turned  in.  If  they  are  correct,  then  some 
clerk  has  probably  forgotten  to  ring  up  one  or  more  sales.  To  trace  the 
fault,  let  the  Steward  read  off  all  the  charge  sales  from  the  record  tape  of 
the  cash  register,  calling  off  at  the  same  time  the  letter  of  the  clerk  who 
rang  up  each  sale.  These  can  be  compared  with  the  triplicate  copy  of  the  sales 
slips,  or  the  assembled  clerks  can  be  required  to  note  the  sales  accredited 
to  them,  the  grand  total  of  which  must  equal  $20.60.  In  this  manner,  the 
error  is  definitely  located.  On  the  other  hand,  suppose  the  cash  register 
shows  $21.90  and  the  total  on  Form  4  shows  $20.60.  The  effect  is  that 
produced  by  a  clerk  being  short  $1.30  in  charge  sales  slips  after  he  has 
actually  made  the  sales.  The  same  procedure  as  before  will  locate  the 
mistake.  If  he  cannot  produce  the  slips  (or  cash  or  coupons  as  the  case 
may  be)  or  satisfactorily  explain  the  mistake,  the  clerk  in  error  should  be 
required  to  make  good  the  discrepancy.  Discrepancies  in  cash  and  coupons 
can  be  located  and  remedied  in  the  same  manner.  It  is  important  that  the 
clerks  be  required  to  participate  in  the  task  of  locating  mistakes  and  to 
make  good  on  errors,  otherwise  there  will  be  no  incentive  to  careful  work. 

When  the  totals  of  the  clerks'  reports  check  against  the  cash  registers, 
the  next  step  is  to  check  the  former  against  the  receipts  in  cash,  coupons 
and  charge  sales  slips  actually  turned  in  by  the  respective  clerks.  The  cash 
should,  in  fact,  be  counted  immediately  upon  being  turned  in,  checked  O.  K. 
on  the  clerks'  reports  and  put  in  a  safe  place.  The  charge  slips  handed  in 
by  each  clerk  are  compared  with  the  strip  from  the  adding  machine  (on 
which  the  clerk  has  added  up  his  slips  before  making  out  his  report) 
checked  against  the  report  and  put  aside  for  filing.  Coupons  are  handled 
in  the  same  way  except  that  they  are  sealed  in  the  envelope  and  put  in  a 


14  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

secure  place  until  the  Exchange  Officer  personally  can  burn  them.  This 
matter  of  destroying  coupons  should  never  be  delegated  to  any  other 
person.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  receipts  turned  in  by  each  clerk 
should,  and  usually  do,  check  exactly  with  his  report,  this  particular  routine 
is  recommended,  as  it  allows  the  dismissal  of  the  clerks  before  commencing 
the  work  described  in  this  paragraph.  Tn  case  of  mistakes,  the  simple 
expedient  of  making  the  clerk  at  fault  assist  in  the  work  for  a  few  even- 
ings, is  usually  sufficient  to  prevent  a  repitition.  In  large  Exchanges,  where 
the  coupon  and  charge  sales  are  large,  it  is  not  customary  to  total  the 
charge  sales  slips  and  count  the  coupons  until  the  next  morning.  If  the 
receipts  turn  out  to  be  greater  than  called  for  by  the  reports,  the  surplus 
can  be  taken  up  by  entering  on  a  single  line  of  Form  26  (described  here- 
after), whenever  the  books  are  closed  (or  oftener,  if  desired)  an  item  showing 
what  departments  are  credited  with  these  excess  coupons,  exactly  as  if  it 
were  another  day's  transactions.  Such  entry  should,  however,  be  pre'faced 
by  the  words,  "excess  coupons".  Shortages  should  be  collected  from  the 
clerk  at  fault,  thus  making  the  reports  correct.  The  Exchange  Officer 
should  occasionally  make  the  coupon  and  the  charge  sales  counts  himself. 

It  would  be  unbusinesslike,  if  the  coupon  or  charge  sales  are  heavy,  to 
require  the  Exchange  Officer,  the  Steward  or  any  other  high  priced  man 
to  waste  his  time  counting  coupons  or  any  other  similar  task.  A  less  ex- 
pensive employee  should  be  detailed  for  this  purpose.  Eor  such  unskilled 
labor,  a  boy  at  $10.00  per  month  who  can  run  errands,  etc.,  would  be  a 
profitable  investment  in  many  cases,  thus  leaving  the  expensive  employees 
free  to  do  more  important  work. 

Too  much  stress  cannot  be  placed  upon  the  importance  of  insuring  the 
correctness  of  the  data  entered  on  Eorm  4.  If  the  above  mentioned  checks 
have  been  applied,  there  should  be  no  trouble  in  any  phase  of  our  charge 
accounts. 

Daily  Summary  of  Charge  Sales. 

For  various  self-evident  reasons,  we  use  Form  7,  shown  in  Fig.  6,  for 
showing  a  month's  charge  sales.  This  form  gives  us  in  a  most  convenient 
shape,  a  summary  of  that  part  of  our  (daily)  Forms  4  that  relates  to  our 
charge  sales  business,  it  safeguards  us  against  the  loss  of  any  Form  4  and 
facilitates  posting  our  ledger  accounts.  This  form  is  kept  up  to  date,  the 
charge  sales  from  Form  4  being  entered  thereon  daily,  and  therefore,  af- 
fords us  a  most  efficient  aid  in  closing  our  books  at  any  moment.  At  the 
end  of  the  month,  or  whenever  the  books  are  closed,  we  find  the  totals  of 
the  columns  of  Form  7  and  post  these  totals  as  lump  sums  into  the  ledger. 
For  example,  the  total  of  column  1  is  posted  as  a  debit  in  the  ledger  against 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


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16  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

Bills  Receivable,  Customers;  the  total  of  column  2  as  a  credit  to  the  same 
account.  The  total  of  column  3  should  be  posted  as  a  debit  against  the 
Store  account  in  the  ledger,  this  being  for  articles  returned  to  the  store  by 
our  customers ;  the  total  of  column  4  is  posted  as  a  credit  to  the  store 
account,  being  for  articles  sold  from  same,  etc.  These  sheets,  constituting 
Form  7  are  11  x  14  inches,  and  cost  $1.75  per  hundred  without  printed 
headings;  a  sectional  post  binder  to  tit  them  can  be  bought  for  $3.75.  The 
sheet  is  the  same  on  both  sides  and  will,  therefore,  take  care  of  seven 
departments  if  we  use  the  whole  width  of  the  open  book.  This  will  be 
found  ample  in  most  cases.  It  is  useless  expense  to  have  the  headings,  etc., 
printed  on  the  sheets,  because  a  single  sheet  with  neatly  written  headings 
can  be  made  to  serve  as  a  sort  of  index  for  a  great  many  sheets,  provided 
they  are  mounted  above  it  and  are  trimmed  off  just  below  the  headings 
"DR."  "CR.",  and  also  trimmed  on  the  outside  margin  so  that  the  date 
figures  on  the  lowermost  sheet  will  serve  as  an  index  to  the  lines  of  the 
upper  sheets.  This  labor  arid  money  saving  point  will  be  more  fully  dis- 
cussed later. 

Recording  Charge  Sales  Slips. 

After  these  slips  have  been  checked  against  the  clerks'  reports,  they 
must  be  sorted  out  and  filed  according  to  the  names  of  the  purchasers. 
For  this  work,  have  two  card  index  drawers,  each  fitted  with  a  set  of 
guide  cards  marked  on  the  tabs  with  the  names  of  our  charge  customers. 
As  each  slip  is  found,  file  it  behind  the  proper  name.  We  first  take  all 
the  "Store"  slips  and  file  them  in  this  manner;  we  then  go  through  this 
"sorting  drawer"  and  total  the  slips  belonging  to  each  customer  and  enter 
these  totals  in  the  column  representing  that  date  on  Form  9,  (see  Fig.  7) 
opposite  the  names  of  the  respective  customers.  At  the  same  time,  we 
insert  the  sales  slips  diagonally  in  their  proper  places  in  the  other  or 
permanent  filing  drawer.  The  total  of  these  entries  on  Form  9  should 
equal  the  total  charge  sales  credited  that  date  to  the  Store  on  Form  7. 
If  it  does,  the  slips  that  have  been  placed  diagonally  can  be  shoved  down 
into  the  proper  places  as  we  are  through  with  them;  if  it  does  not,  they 
can  easily  be  removed  for  further  examination.  This  daily  check  should 
invariably  be  made  for  each  department.  We  proceed  in  like  manner  with 
respect  to  the  other  departments,  each  department  having  its  own  sheet  or 
sheets  like  Form  (J.  It  is  evident  that  this  form  gives  us  a  summary  of  all 
the  charge  sales  made  each  day  from  each  department,  showing  the 
amounts  sold  to  each  of  our  customers.  At  the  end  of  the  month,  each  line 
is  added  across  and  the  total  entered.  The  "Total"  column  is  then  added 
up  and  compared  with  the  total  obtained  by  adding  together  the  figures 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


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18  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

(representing  the  daily  totals)  on  the  bottom  line.  If  these  two  totals 
check  against  each  other  and  against  the  total  shown  on  Form  7,  the 
account  may  be  considered  correct  and  is  a  record  of  the  daily  transactions 
between  our  customers  and  the  department  considered. 

The  book  in  which  we  bind  our  Form  9  is  known  as  the  "Charge 
Book",  and  it  may  be  well  to  explain  here  the  physical  make-up  of  this 
important  book  of  record.  It  is,  of  course,  on  the  loose-leaf  principle, 
being  of  the  type  known  as  a  "sectional  post  binder".  It  costs  $2.50  and  the 
ruled  sheets  (without  special  printing)  cost  $1.00  per  hundred.  It  is, 
however,  to  the  manner  of  handling  the  sheets  of  the  book  that  attention 
is  especially  invited.  The  old  fashioned  way  would  be  to  enter  the  names 
of  our  customers  down  the  left  hand  margin  of  each  sheet  until  all  were 
entered,  put  the  name  of  the  department  and  the  month  and  year  at  the 
top  of  the  sheet  and  the  days  of  the  month  at  the  tops  of  the  successive 
columns  with  the  heading  "Total"  at  the  right  of  the  sheet.  Thus,  if  we 
had  five  departments  and  enough  credit  customers  to  require  six  sheets 
for  the  list,  we  should  have  to  prepare  thirty  sheets  in  this  manner  every 
month.  Now,  to  show  how  we  can  eliminate  unnecessary  work  by  the 
exercise  of  a  little  forethought,  let  us  assume  that  we  have  started  our 
record  in  this  manner.  Now  take  six  copies  of  Form  9,  trim  them  along 
the  heavy  broken  lines  shown  in  Fig.  7,  and  bind  one  of  these  sheets  in 
front  of  each  of  those  we  have  previously  prepared.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  book  is  now  ready  for  another  month's  entries  without  any  preparatory 
writing  or  numbering  whatever  other  than  labelling  each  new  sheet  in 
some  convenient  place  with  the  month  and  department  to  which  it  pertains. 
Of  course,  to  care  for  the  five  departments,  we  should  have  to  do  this  for 
all  five  sets  of  sheets  that  we  originally  prepared.  It  follows  tbaf,  pro- 
vided our  list  of  customers  does  not  change,  this  same  operation  of  insert- 
ing trimmed  sheets  would  constitute  the  only  labor  necessary  to  continue 
this  record  for  an  indefinite  period. 

After  considerable  experimenting  and  actual  trial  in  service,  the  fol- 
lowing described  scheme  has  been  evolved  for  handling  this  record  in  an 
efficient  manner.  While  no  claim  is  made  that  it  is  perfect,  it  is  believed 
that  it  will  give  thorough  satisfaction  wherever  it  is  given  a  fair  trial  and 
will  save  many  hours  of  labor  in  keeping  the  books. 

1.  Take  a  sheet,  Form  9,  and  enter  the  names  of  your  charge  cus- 
tomers in  alphabetical  order,  commencing  on  a  left  hand  page.  To  allow 
for  future  changes,  leave  a  blank  line  before  each  name  and  one  or  two 
blank  lines  at  the  bottom  of  the  page  for  sub-totals,  etc.  For  clearness 
and  permanence,  these  names  should  be  put  in  from  a  black  "record"  type- 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  19 

writer  ribbon.  Write  in  the  headings  of  the  various  columns  as  shown  on 
Form  S).  The  object  in  placing  the  "total"  column  near  the  outside  margin 
is  to  have  it  next  the  customer's  name,  thus  minimizing  the  chances  of 
error  in  taking  out  the  wrong  total  when  we  make  our  postings  at  the  end 
of  the  month. 

2.  If  our  list  of  charge  customers  will  require  more  than  one  sheet, 
take  another  Form  9  wlncn  vve  s^ail  call  Sheet  No.  2  and  proceed  in  a 
like  manner,  using  the  same  side  of  the  sheet  as  before.     This  should  be 
repeated  until  all  our  charge  customers  are  entered.     Several  blank  lines 
are  left  at  the  bottom  of  the  last  sheet.     Thus,  when  we  have  finished  and 
have  inserted  the  sheets  in  our  book,  we  shall  have  a  complete  list  of  our 
charge  customers  all  recorded  on  the  left  hand  pages  of  our  book,  that 
side  of  each  sheet  that  forms  the  right  hand  pages  of  our  book  being  blank. 

3.  Now,  in  order  to  utilize  these  blank  pages,  thus  avoiding  unneces- 
sary waste,  we  proceed  as  follows  : — Open  your  book  between  Sheets  1  and 
2;  page  1  will  then  be  on  the  left  and  page  2  on  the  right.     This  page  2 
should  now  be  prepared  in  a  manner  exactly  similar  to  that  used  in  pre- 
paring page   1,  except  that  the  customers'   names  are  on  the  right  hand 
margin  with  the  total  column  next  inside.     This  is  clearly  shown  in  Fig.  7. 

4.  Prepare  the  blank  sides  of  the  other  sheets  in  a  similar  manner 
and  we  shall  then  have  two  complete  lists  of  our  charge  customers,  one 
occupying  the  left  and  the  other  the  right  hand  pages  of  our  book,  the 
confronting  pages  being  practically  symmetrical. 

5.  Let  us  assume  that  the  Exchange  has  rive  separate  departments  in 
which  charge  sales  can  occur.     We  cut  five  sheets  along  the  heavy  broken 
lines  shown  in  Fig.  7  and  insert  them  between  pages  1  and  2.     Five  more 
trimmed  sheets  are  inserted  between  sheets   (whole  sheets)   2  and  3,  and 
so  on  for  the  rest  of  the  book.     In  order  to  identify  these  sheets  if  acci- 
dentally removed  from  the  binder  and  to  facilitate  the  making  of  entries, 
we  print  on  each  of  them  in  large  letters,  the  name  of  the  department  and 
the  month  to  which  they  refer.     This  is  best  done  lightly  with  red  ink  as 
shown    (in  black)   in  Fig.  7  where  the  sheet  is  marked  STORE — AUG. 
This  red  ink  lettering  will  not  obscure  the  black  ink  figures  subsequently 
made. 

(i.  Let  us  agree  to  use  the  left  hand  pages  for  the  first  month's  account 
and  the  right  hand  pages  for  the  next  month's  account.  Let  us  take  the 
first  trimmed  sheet  and  mark  it  "STORE  —  JAN"  on  one  side,  and 
"STORE — FEB"  on  the  other.  Do  similarly  for  the  sheets  reserved  for 
the  "market",  "lunch  room",  and  other  accounts.  The  sheets  containing  the 


20  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

typewritten  headings  are  not  used   for  recording  sales,  but  are  used  for 
guide  sheets,  for  reasons  to  be  set  forth  later. 

It  is  easy  to  see  from  the  preceding  description  that  our  charge  book 
is  a  running  account,  and  being  always  up  to  date,  can  be  closed  at  short 
notice.  When  two  months'  records  have  been  entered,  the  trimmed  sheets 
are  lifted  and  filed,  as  will  be  described  hereafter.  Fresh  trimmed  sheets 
are  again  inserted  in  the  proper  places  and  the  record  proceeds  as  before. 

Consolidating  Charge  Sales  Monthly. 

The  form  in  which  we  have  placed  our  daily  records  of  credit  sales 
lends  itself  very  readily  to,  a  process  of  summation  or  consolidation.  The 
manner  of  doing  this  is  as  follows  : — 

1.  Prepare  a  second  double  list  of  our  credit  customers  exactly  as 
described  above,  except  that  the  columns,  instead  of  being  headed  with  the 
days  of  the  month,  are  labelled  with  the  names  of  the  various  departments, 
as  shown  in  Fig.  8.     Let  us  call  this  Form  6.     Blank  sheets  trimmed  along 
the  heavy  broken  lines,  shown  in  Fig.  7,  are  inserted  as  before,  no  record- 
ing being  done  on  the  typewritten  sheets — they  are  simply  guides  or  indices 
to  the  various  lines  and  columns. 

2.  All  these  sheets  are  bound  in  a  separate  book  to  facilitate  the  work 
of  posting  at  the  end  of  the  month.     Experiment  seems  to  prove  that  this 
is  better  than  binding  these   records  in  the  same  book  with   the   charge 
sheets  just  described.     This,  for  the  reason  that  a  clerk  is  apt  to  waste  too 
much  time  in  continually  turning  pages  back  and  forth  and  is  also  more 
liable  to  make  errors  in  posting. 

3.  Immediately  after  the  end  of  the  month,  Form  7,  is  checked  against 
Form  9  as  previously  described.     We  then  take,  say,  the  "store"  charge 
sheets  (Form  7)  and  enter  on  Form  6  the  total  that  each  customer  owes 
the  store.     We  do  the  same  for  every  other  department,  also  entering  the 
balance  remaining  unpaid  from  last  month  in  the  column  provided  for  the 
purpose.     We  also  record  in  the  proper  column  any  credit  we  have  given 
our  customers  during  the  month  for  goods  returned,  overcharges,  etc. 

4.  By  using  the  adding  machine,  we  find  the  total  of  each  depart- 
ment's column  on  Form  6;  it  should  equal  the  total  charge  sales  for  that 
department  reported  on  Forms  7  and  9.     If  it  does  not,  the  error  must  be 
found  and  corrected  before  proceeding  further.     These  totals,  when  cor- 
rect, are  entered  at  the  foot  of  their  proper  columns  on  the  last  sheet  of 
the  record.     Now  add  these  column-totals  on  the  machine  and  enter  the 
result  in  pencil  at  the  foot  of  the  "Total"  column  on  the  same  last  sheet 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


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POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


of  this  Form  6  record;  it  should  check  against  the  grand  total  of  the  charge 
sales  for  the"  month  reported  on  Forms  7  and  <). 

5.     When  all   postings  to  our  Form   6  are  complete,   we  station   one 
clerk  at  the  adding  machine  and  one  is  prepared  to  make  out  our  monthly 


THE  POST  EXCHANGE 


ACCOUNT  OF 
FOR 


Brought  forward 

Store 

Lunch 

Market 

Soda  Fountain 

Milk 

Ice 

Laundry 

.-_, 

Total 

Credit 

Total  due  Exchange 

This  Bill  must  be  paid  by  the   10th  of  the  Month. 

IT    WILL    BK  ASSUMED,   UNLESS  OTII  KR\V  ISK  REQUESTED  IN  KACII   (ASK 
[EXCEPT  ORGAN  I7.ATIONS]  THAT  PERSONS    PAYING   BY  CHECK    DO     NOT 
WISH  THIS    BILL     RECEIPTED     AND     RETURNED,     BUT*ARE     SATISK1II) 
WITH  THE  CANCELLED  CHECK  EOR  A    RECEII1  . 
FORM  1.  P.  E., 


Figure  9.  Actual  size 

bills  or  statements  of  account,  using  Form  1,  shown  in  Fig.  9.     Some  pri- 
son reads  off  Form  6  the  name  of  each  customer  arid  the  total  charges 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  23 

against  him  by  each  department.  These  items  are  added  on  the  machine 
and  simultaneously  entered  by  the  bill  clerk  on  Form  1.  The  adding  ma- 
chine operator  reads  the  total  of  the  items  he  has  added,  which  total  is 
entered  by  the  bill  clerk  on  his  Form  1  and  by  us  in  the  column  headed, 
"Total"  on  our  Form  G. 

6.  Any  credit  due  the  customer  is  read  off  to  and  entered  by  the  bill 
clerk  on  the  statement.   He  then  figures  the  balance  due  the  Post  Exchange, 
which  balance  should  agree  with  that  figured  independently  by  the  person 
reading   from   Form   6. 

7.  When  the  last  bill  has  been  made  out,  take  the  printed  strip  from 
the  adding  machine  and  find  the  sum  of  all  the  totals  that  have  been  read 
off  by  the  operator.     This  sum  should  equal  the  pencil  total  described  in 
Par.  4  above  and  checks  the  correctness  of  the  account.     If  a  "Duplex" 
adding  machine  is  used,  this  does  not  require  extra  work.     If  the  accounts 
do  not  "jibe"  and  the  error  cannot  be  found,  take  in  rotation  the  charge 
slips  that  you  have  filed  against  each  customer  and  add  them  on  the  ma- 
chine, making  a  separate  total  for  each  customer.     This  should  locate  the 
error.     If  the  accounts  check,  however,   (and  they  should  if  the  previous 
checks  have  been  made  properly)  this  laborious  operation  is  unnecessary. 

All  our  bills  are  now  ready  for  mailing,  and  they  are  made  out  cor- 
rectly. In  order  to  obtain  the  full  benefit  of  this  method,  our  bill  forms 
should  require  the  minimum  amount  of  writing.  The  form  shown  in  Fig. 
9  gives  satisfaction.  It  is  a  3  x  5  inch  card  and  therefore  fits  standard  size 
card  index  drawers ;  it  is  easily  handled  and  will  go  into  a  note  size  penalty 
envelope  without  folding.  The  appropriate  month  can  be  stamped  in  and 
the  name  of  the  customer  entered  during  spare  moments  throughout  the 
month,  so  that  the  only  work  necessary  at  this  time  is  to  write  in  the 
figures.  If  the  lines  of  Form  1  are  "typewriter  spaced",  that  is,  six  to  the 
inch,  and  the  form  is  not  too  heavy,  it  can  be  placed  directly  in  the  adding 
machine  and  the  various  amounts  printed  on  the  card.  The  names  of  the 
various  departments  should  be  printed  on  this  card  in  the  same  order  in 
which  they  occur  on  Form  6.  In  fact,  much  work  will  be  saved  if  some 
specific  scheme  of  sequence  or  relative  order  among  the  different  depart- 
ments is  invariably  followed. 

The  writer  does  not  know  of  a  more  economical  or  efficient  system 
of  handling  the  bug-a-boo  of  "getting  out  our  monthly  bills"  than  that 
just  described.  Sometimes,  a  "duplicating  bill-book"  is  used,  but  it  is  a 
wasteful  and  inefficient  method  when  compared  to  this.  One  of  the  prin- 
cipal advantages  of  the  system  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  keep 
a  private  ledger  account  for  any  of  our  charge  customers.  If  we  were  to 


24  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

do  so,  we  should  simply  repeat  information  that  we  already  have.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  we  have  filed  away  our  triplicate  record  of  each  day's 
charge  sales,  which  record  describes  in  detail  the  particulars  of  every  sale' 
made  on  that  day.  From  this,  should  the  necessity  arise,  we  can  recon- 
struct our  whole  charge  sales  record  for  the  month.  We  have  also  on  file 
(until  the  bill  is  paid)  another  copy  of  each  charge  sales  slip,  tiled  accord- 
ing to  the  names  of  customers,  which,  in  itself,  constitutes  one  side  of  the 
ledger  account  that  would  be  kept  under  the  old  system.  These,  together 
with  the  records  previously  described,  amply  warrant  the  abolition  of 
customers'  private  ledger  accounts.  Another  great  advantage  of  this 
system  lies  in  the  ease  and  rapidity  with  which  the  books  can  be  closed  at 
any  time. 

Attention  is  invited  to  the  note  at  the  bottom  of  Form  1.  This  is  a 
labor  saving  item  that  is  in  accord  with  the  practice  of  many  up-to-date 
houses — to  regard  a  canceled  and  endorsed  check  as  the  best  form  of  re- 
ceipt. Hence,  if  a  customer  pays  his  bill  by  check,  .it  is  unnecessary  to 
receipt  the  bill  and  return  it  to  him,  our  endorsement  on  his  check  con- 
stitutes his  receipt.  This  same  procedure  can  be  made  to  apply  to  com- 
panies,-etc. ;  also,  if  the  company  commander  will  use  the  sales  slips  as  his 
sub-vouchers  for  the  expenditure. 

Credit  Transactions. 

We  shall  now  take  up  the  procedure  to  be  followed  in  recording  any 
and  all  credit  which  we  allow  to  customers  for  overcharges,  goods  re- 
turned, etc.  It  is  apparent  that  such  transaction  must  occur  in  any  busi- 
ness. Accurate  track  should  be  kept  of  them  and  they  should  be  handled 
in  the  most  efficient  and  time-saving  manner  possible.  Each  such  trans- 
action results  in  a  credit  against  our  Bills  Receivable  and  a  charge  or  debit 
against  the  particular  department  involved. 

As  before  stated,  the  clerk  who  receives  the  goods  that  are  returned  to 
us  makes  out  a  charge  sales  slip,  marks  it  "CREDIT"  and  keeps  the  dupli- 
cate, giving  the  original  to  the  customer.  It  is  usually  the  rule  that  nobody 
other  than  the  Steward  or  the  Exchange  Officer  himself  has  authority  to 
give  customers  credit  in  this  way.  In  the  evening,  the  clerk  hands  in  tlusL- 
credit  slips  with  his  report.  When  the  Steward  makes  up  his  report  on 
Form  4,  after  verifying  the  clerks'  reports,  he  simply  enters  these  credits 
in  the  last  column  on  his  Form  4,  totals  them  and  describes  each  separate 
credit  transaction  on  the  back  of  his  report.  All  the  data  relating  to  the 
charge  sales  (and  credits  given)  during  the  day  that  are  shown  on  the  face 
of  Form  4  are  abstracted  to  the  appropriate  line  of  Form  7,  which  latter 
sheet  gives  us  in  concise  form  all  the  data  we  need  concerning  our  charge 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  25 

sales  for  the  month.  The  credit  slips  are  gathered  up  and  placed  with  the 
filed  charge  sales  slips  relating  to  the  person  who  returned  the  goods  to  us. 
At  the  end  of  the  month,  preparatory  to  making  out  our  bills,  all  credits 
are  entered  in  the  column  headed  "Credit"  on  Form  6,  and  are  checked 
against  the  totals  shown  on  Form  7.  This  avoids  the  necessity  of  entering 
each  credit  transaction  on  a  separate  line  of  Form  7  as  such  transaction 
occurs.  Even  if  the  credit  slip  were  lost,  no  error  should  result,  because 
we  check  the  total  credits  entered  on  Form  6  against  the  total  credits  on 
Form  7  before  we  start  making  out  our  bills.  If  these  do  not  agree,  we 
must  check  both  Forms  6  and  7  against  the  credits  shown  daily  by  the 
various  Forms  4.  We  also  have  another  check  in  the  triplicate  copy  of  the 
credit  slips  that  has  been  filed  away. 

Below  is  a  graphic  chart  which  shows  how  to  handle  this  system  of 
charge  accounts.  It  shows  how  the  various  records  experience  a  continu- 
ous process  of  summation  until  they  finally  reach  the  ledger  and  the  cus- 
tomer's bill,  and  how  the  accounts  can  be  checked  as  we  go  along,  thus 
avoiding  errors.  Solid  lines  show  posting  operations,  broken  lines  show 
possible  checking  operations. 

Settling  Charge  Accounts. 

When  any  of  our  charge  customers  pays  his  bill,  we  make  an  entry  in 
our  cash  book,  giving  to  each  such  payment  a  separate  line.  We  enter  the 
amount  of  the  payment  in  the  column  headed  "Net  Cash"  and  also  in  the 
column  headed  "Customers".  We  do  not  enter  any  of  this  amount  in  the 
columns  referring  to  the  various  departments  because  they  have  already 
been  credited  for  their  proper  shares  through  the  charge  sales  records  and 
to  do  so  again  in  the  cash  book  would  manifestly  give  them  double  credit 
for  each  charge  sale.  We  also  stamp  "Paid"  in  the  "Cash"  column  of 
Form  6,  using  a  dating  stamp  that  will  fit  neatly  into  this  column.  One 
using  red  ink  is  preferable.  If  only  a  part  of  the  bill  is  paid,  we  enter  in 
this  column  the  amount  received,  extend  the  balance  to  the  proper  column 
and,  at  the  proper  time,  carry  it  forward  to  next  month's  account  Some 
book-keepers  of  the  old  school  will  keep  a  "blotter"  or  some  such  book 
wherein  these  payments  are  first  noted,  copying  them  at  their  leisure  into 
the  Cash  Book.  As  the  Cash  Book  is  a  book  of  original  record,  this  is  not 
only  wrong,  but  is  incidentally  unnecessary  labor  and  hence  to  be  avoided. 
When  payments  like  these  come  in,  they  should  be  taken  directly  to  the 
book-keeper,  who  should  immediately  enter  them  in  the  Cash  Book. 

All  such  payments  occurring  on  any  one  day  are  entered  in  a  lump 
sum  under  "Collections,"  on  the  Form  4  for  that  day.  In  fact,  all  cash 


26 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  27 

received,  whether  from  paymasters'  collections  on  payrolls  or  any  source 
other  than  cash  sales  by  any  of  our  departments,  is  taken  up  on  Form  4  as 
"Collections".  If  a  bill  is  paid  before  the  end  of  the  month,  it  is  treated 
exactly  the  same  as  if  it  were  paid  afterward,  except  that  the  date  is 
stamped  in  a  different  colored  ink.  It  does  not  confuse  our  accounts, 
because  the  amount  paid  is  entered  in  the  "Customers'  "  column  of  the 
Cash  Book  and  the  total  of  this  column  is  posted  at  the  end  of  the  month  to 
the  credit  side  of  Bills  Receivable,  Customers,  in  the  ledger.  The  "Cus- 
tomers' "  column  in  the  Cash  Book  is  solely  for  receipts  from  our  charge 
customers  and  for  nothing  else. 

If,  at  any  time,  we  wish  to  find  the  total  charge  sales,  we  simply  find 
the  total  of  the  amounts  shown  on  Form  7,  subtracting  credits,  if  any.  We 
also  use  the  total  sales  credited  to  the  various  departments  on  Form  7  in 
making  up  our  monthly  statement  for  the  auditing  officer  and  for  the  In- 
spector. To  find  out  at  the  end  of  the  month  the  amount  due  us  on  ac- 
count, we  turn  to  Bills  Receivable,  Customers,  in  the  ledger,  where  the 
balance  should  show  the  correct  amount.  This  amount  should  check  with 
the  "Total"  column  on  Form  6  reduced  by  credits  allowed  and  payments 
received  prior  to  the  end  of  the  month. 

Dead  and  Live  Records. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  all  our  Forms  9  were  placed  in  one  book 
and  our  Forms  6  in  another,  and  that  each  Form  9  was  to  be  used  for 
two  months,  that  is,  used  on  both  sides.  After  both  sides  have  been  used 
these  forms  are  transferred  bodily  to  the  book  containing  our  Forms  6,  and 
placed  between  the  Forms  6  referring  to  these  months.  Fresh  Forms  9 
take  the  place  of  those  transferred,  thus  keeping  our  book  "alive"  and 
placing  our  dead  records  where  they  will  be  less  in  the  way.  The  logic  of 
this  is  evident  when  we  remember  that  we  use  our  Charge  Book  (Form  6) 
only  at  the  end  of  the  month,  whereas,  we  use  our  Form  9  book  every  day. 

As  regards  Form  8  (charge  sales  slip)  our  rolls  of  triplicate  sales 
slips  for  the  month  should  be  marked  on  the  outside  of  each  roll  with  the 
date  and  the  name  of  the  department  to  which  each  pertains  and  kept  in  a 
convenient  place  until  the  auditing  officer  has  finished  his  work  for  that 
month,  when  they  should  be  stored  together  in  some  place  where  they  can 
be  consulted  if  desired.  They  should  be  preserved  for  such  length  of  time 
as  may  be  required  by  regulations  or  local  laws,  depending  upon  which  is 
the  greater.  The  original  slips  may  be  treated  in  one  of  two  ways;  they 
may  be  sent  to  the  cus'omcr  with  his  bill  at  (he  end  of  the  month,  or  they 


28  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

may  be  sent  to  him  after  he  pays  his  bill.     It  is  felt  that  the  first  method  is 
by  far  the  better. 

Forms  5  for  the  month  should  be  preserved  until  the  auditor  has  fin- 
ished with  them,  and  it  is  perhaps  advisable  to  keep  them  until  after  the 
next  visit  of  the  inspector.  Our  Forms  4  are  very  important  and  should  be 
kept  until  after  the  inspector  has  inspected  the  accounts  of  the  Exchange,  if 
not  indefinitely.  Forms  6,  7  and  9  are  a  part  of  the  permanent  records  of 
the  Exchange  and  should  be  preserved  indefinitely. 

The  foregoing  description  of  this  system  of  handling  charge  accounts 
may  sound  formidable  to  the  layman,  but  in  reality,  it  is  not  so.  As  shown 
in  the  graphic  chart  (Fig.  10)  it  is  a  logical  system,  proceeding  in  a  simple, 
orderly  way  from  the  charge  sales  slip  to  the  ledger  and  the  customer's 
bill.  It  belongs  to  the  class  of  book-keeping  called  "controlled  accounts"— 
each  part  of  the  system  knits  evenly  into  the  others,  "and  there  is  a 'con- 
tinual process  of  summation  going  on  throughout  the  records.  There  is  no 
duplicated  work  and  every  step  is  one  of  definite  progress  towards  the  goal. 
It  will  be  found  to  fulfil  the  requirements  we  imposed  at  the  beginning  of 
this  essay.  It  has  actually  proved  its  worth  wherever  installed.  It  is 
equally  adapted  to  the  large  and  to  the  small  Exchange.  Due  to  the  many 
available  opportunities  for  checking  the  correctness  of  results,  mistakes  an 
easily  located  and  corrected.  However,  if  the  checks  described  are  applied, 
especially  those  relating  to  Form  4,  there  should  be  little  excuse  for  a  mis- 
take to  appear  in  any  of  the  higher  accounts. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  29 


CASH  SALES. 

In  the  light  of  the  preceding  discussion  of  charge  sales,  our  methods 
of  handling  cash  sales  can  be  disposed  of  in  a  few  words.  In  all  cases  of 
such  sales,  the  clerk  simply  gives  the  customer  his  goods,  receiving  the 
money  therefor,  makes  change  if  necessary,  rings  up  the  amount  of  the  sale 
on  the  cash  register  and  places  the  cash  therein.  The  most  important  part 
of  this  transaction,  insofar  as  our  system  is  concerned,  is  described  in  the 
next-to-last  clause.  If  the  salesman  once  rings  up  the  correct  amount  on 
the  cash  register,  the  store  is  sure  that  the  transaction  is  closed,  and  closed 
properly.  Means  to  this  end  will  be  discussed  under  the  heading  of  "Cash 
Registers". 

It  is  customary  to  loan,  secured  by  various  kinds  of  receipts,  a  suitable 
sum  to  the  heads  of  the-  various  departments  of  the  Exchange  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  change.  Jn  some  cases,  it  may  be  advisable  to  require  them 
to  make  a  cash  deposit  to  cover  these  amounts.  When  the  Cashier  or 
Steward  is  under  bond,  it  is  feasible  to  turn  the  "change  money"  of  the 
whole  Exchange  over  to  him,  taking  his  note  for  it. 

After  closing  at  night,  each  clerk  enters  his  cash  sales  on  his  sales 
report  (Form  5,  Fig.  4)  and  hands  it,  together  with  the  cash  receipts,  to 
the  Steward  or  other  authorized  recipient.  The  latter  counts  the  cash 
immediately,  checks  it  on  the  clerk's  report  and  places  it  one  side  until  the 
total  cash  is  checked.  He  then  transfers  the  item  to  his  own  Form  4, 
(Fig.  5)  and  compares  the  totals  for  each  department  with  the  cash  regis- 
ter readings  for  those  departments,  entering  the  latter,  if  they  are  shown 
separately  for  each  clerk,  on  each  clerk's  report  in  the  spaces  provided  for 
that  purpose.  Discrepancies  are  handled  as  previously  explained  under 
Charge  Sales. 

Cash  Book. 

When  the  cash  is  checked  and  the  Steward's  report  is  correct,  he  copies 
the  amounts  of  cash  sales  for  each  department  into  the  Cash  Book,  putting 
each  amount  in  its  j>roper  column.  All  the  cash  receipts  from  all  the  de- 
partments for  any  one  day  go  on  the  same  line  in  the  Cash  Book.  On  the 
other  hand,  credit  nothing  in  the  Cash  Book  to  a  department  except  a  cash 
sale.  Every  other  receipt  of  cash  from  whatever  source  is  recorded  in  the 
Cash  Book,  also,  a  separate  line  being  given  to  each  transaction.  For  in- 
stance, as  before  explained,  whenever  one  of  our  charge  customers  pays  his 


30  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

bill,  we  give  him  a  separate  line  in  the  Cash  Book,  entering  this  amount  in 
two  columns,  first  under  "Net  Cash"  and  also  under  "Customers". 

The  Cash  Book  should  have  on  the  "Received"  or  debit  side  (the  left 
side)  columns  for  the  following  items  : — Date,  Explanation,  Vou,,  Net  Cash, 
a  column  for  each  department  of  the  Exchange,  Customers,  Creditors,  In- 
terest and  Discount,  and  at  least  two  spare  columns  for  entering  the  pay- 
day collections,  etc.  The  books  should  not  be  too  bulky  as  many  cash 
books  are,  and  should,  of  course,  be  built  on  the  loose  leaf  plan.  A  cash 
book  cannot  be  designed  to  suit  all  cases  because  of  the  varying  number 
and  kind  of  departments  pertaining  to  different  Exchanges.  However,  it 
is  easy  to  secure  uniformity  of  principle  and  method,  which  is  the  main 
thing.  The  only  point  that  need  vary  between  different  Exchanges  is  the 
number  of  columns  in  the  book  and  the  headings  to  same. 

A  cash  book  will  be  rather  expensive  if  we  have  it  made  precisely  as 
we  want  it,  especially  if  we  have  the  column  headings  printed  in.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  printed  headings  make  a  neater  book,  but  in  many  cases,  the 
advisability  of  incurring  the  extra  expense  is  open  to  doubt.  Considering 
the  great  variety  of  stock  pages  published  by  various  manufacturers,  there 
is  rarely  an  excuse  for  ordering  specially  ruled  and  printed  sheets.  Special 
ruling  are  very  expensive,  especially  when  we  can  order  but  a  small  supply. 
It  is  found  that  the  sheets  shown  in  Fig.  11  give  perfect  satisfaction.  The 


Figure  11.  (Reduced  in  size) 

lower  sample,  having  20  columns,  will  take  care  of  almost  any  Exchange, 
and  by  trimming  off  the  two  outer  columns  of  the  right  hand  page,  we  can  se- 
cure a  capacity  of  36  columns.  This  would  prevent  us  from  keeping  Cash  Re- 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  31 

ceived  and  Cash  Disbursed  on  pages  that  confront  each  other,  but  as  the 
number  of  pages  used  for  the  former  usually  exceeds  greatly  those  neces- 
sary for  the  latter,  this  objection  has  little  weight.  If  convenience  so  dic- 
tated, there  is  no  reason  why  the  two  sides  of  the  Cash  Book  or  Cash 
Account  could  not  be  kept  in  different  parts  of  the  book  or  even  in  separate 
books.  This  would  lead  to  economy  of  pages. 

The  upper  of  the  two  forms  shown  in  Fig.  11  would  be  suitable  for  small 
Exchanges  where  a  large  number  of  columns  are  not  required,  as  the  left 
hand  side  could  be  used  for  cash  received  and  the  right  for  cash  disbursed. 
Several  of  the  right  hand  pages  would  have  to  be  wasted  each  month  on 
account  of  the  greater  number  of  entries  on  the  debit  side.  Some  Ex- 
changes use  a  form  similar  to  the  upper  one  of  Fig.  11  except  that  it  is 
printed  and  ruled  to  order  and  contains  a  greater  number  of  columns  than 
that  shown  in  the  cut.  The  writer  knows  of  one  Exchange  that  has  as 
many  as  twenty  columns  on  each  side  of  its  Cash  Book.  Such  forms,  how- 
ever, are  exceedingly  expensive  and  should  be  considered  more  or  less  of  a 
luxury.  The  forms  shown  in  Fig.  11  cost  $1.75  per  hundred  retail  (with- 
out printed  headings)  and  measure  11x14  inches,  being  11  inches  on  the 
binding  side.  A  sectional  post  binder  to  tit  any  number  of  these  sheets  can 
be  obtained  for  $3.25  retail. 

The  Cash  Book  is  used  to  give  a  detailed  record  of  all  cash  transac- 
tions. On  the  left  hand  or  debit  side  is  entered  all  cash  received  and  on 
the  right  hand  or  credit  side  is  entered  all  cash  paid  out;  the  difference  in 
the  sum  totals  of  the  respective  sides  showing  at  any  time  the  amount  of 
cash  on  hand.  All  items  on  the  credit  side  of  the  Cash  Book  are  posted  to 
the  debit  side  of  some  account  in  the  Ledger  and  vice  versa.  (Bank 
drafts,  sight  drafts  and  checks  belong  in  the  cash  account;  notes  and  time 
drafts  belong  to  Bills  Receivable  and  Bills  Payable  accounts.)  Our  post- 
ing is  done  only  when  the  books  are  closed,  at  the  end  of  the  month  or 
when  necessity  arises,  thus  saving  an  enormous  amount  of  work.  As  we 
keep  no  private  ledger  account  for  each  of  our  creditors  or  customers,  it 
follows  that  the  totals  of  each  column  in  our  Cash  Book  are  posted  as 
lump  sums  to  the  credit  of  or  as  a  debit  against  the  ledger  accounts  of  Bills 
Receivable,  Bills  Payable,  or  one  of  the  Exchange's  departments,  etc.  Ah 
miscellaneous  receipts  that  do  not  properly  belong  to  one  of  the  depart- 
ments, customers,  etc.,  are  taken  up  under  "Interest  and  Discounts". 

An  important  advantage  of  this  method  of  handling  our  cash  sales  is 
that  we  are  preparing,  as  we  go  along,  all  the  data  that  will  be  required  by 
the  Inspector.  A  discussion  of  the  Credit  side  of  the  Cash  Book  is  post- 


32 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

Pig.   12. 


4|      , 

j  Sale  f—  I 

t 

Boo 

k  ""       1 

1 

[ 

Cash  1 

Regstr  P 

Other  I 

Cash  1 

poned  until  the  subject  of  Purchase  Records  is  taken  up.  The  above  de- 
scribed operations  are  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  12,  where  the  heavy  lines 
represent  operations  of  recording  or  posting  and  the  dotted  lines  show 
possible  checking  operations.  The  item  of  "Other  Cash"  is,  of  course, 
checked  against  Form  25,  Form  6,  or  elsewhere,  depending  upon  cir- 
cumstances. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


33 


COUPON  SALES. 


In  General. 


Coupons,  as  it  may  be  superfluous  to  explain,  are  credit  slips  sold  to 
enlisted  men  by  the  Exchange.     They  are  sold  on  credit,  being  secured  by 


THE  COUPONS  IN  THIS  BOOK  ARE  GOOD  FOR 

$1.00  IN  MERCHANDISE  AT 


820 


POST  EXCHANGE 

CAMP  E.  S.  OTIS,  C    Z. 


Countersigned  by_ 
Issued  to 


Exchange  Officer 


On 


NOT  GOOD  IF  DETACHED 


191 


NOT  TRANSFERABLE 


Figure  13,  Cover   (Reduced  in  size) 


Figure  13,  Coupons  Actual  size 


34  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

notes  signed  by  the  purchasers;  these  notes  constituting  a  lawful  lien  on 
the  drawer's  pay  are  supposed  to  be  redeemed  at  the  next  pay  day.  The 
.credit  slips  can  be  used  at  any  time  for  purchasing  articles  at  the  Exchange. 
Exchanges  formerly  used  metal  coins  or  "checks"  for  this  purpose,  but  it 
was  considered  inadvisable  to  permit  credit  to  be  so  easily  counterfeited, 
transferred,  etc.,  hence  the  use  of  paper  coupons  has  become  universal, 
being  covered  by  mandatory  orders  in  certain  circumstances. 

Kinds  of  Coupons. 

There  are  two  classes  of  coupons,  the  first  being  the  well  known 
"Coupon  Book"  shown  in  Fig.  13.  These  books  are  made  in  various  de- 
nominations ranging  from  one  to  five  dollars.  They  are  composed  of  a 
cover  and  several  interior  pages,  the  latter  being  divided  by  perforations 
into  five  coupons  each,  representing  values  of  five,  ten  or  twenty-five  cents, 
depending  upon  the  value  of  the  book.  For  instance,  a  $1.00  book  contains 
three  sheets,  two  composed  of  five  5c  coupons  each  and  one  composed  of 
five  lOc  coupons.  On  the  cover  of  each  book  is  printed  the  serial  number 
of  the  book,  its  value  and  blank  lines  for  the  insertion  of  the  signature  of 
the  person  to  whom  issued,  the  signature  of  the  Exchange  Officer  and  the 
date  of  issue.  It  is  also  customary  to  have  printed  on  the  cover  the  words 
"Not  Transferable".  In  some  cases,  on  the  back  cover  of  each  book  is 
printed  a  promissory  note  which,  after  being  signed  by  the  soldier,  is  torn 
off  and  kept  by  the  Exchange  authorities  until  the  value  of  the  book  is 
collected  in  cash  from  the  soldier.  A  variation  of  this  scheme  is  to  have  a 
separate  sheet  in  each  book  so  printed  that  it  will  perform  a  like  function. 
In  either  case,  it  is  expected  that  when  the  book  is  depleted,  the  clerk 
making  the  last  sale  shall  take  up  the  cover  of  the  book  in  order  that  it  may 
be  filed  in  the  Exchange  for  such  period  as  the  Exchange  Officer  shall 
determine.  This,  for  the  reason  that  sometimes  a  man  will  claim  that, 
although  he  signed  up  for  certain  coupons  at  a  certain  time,  he  failed  ac- 
tually to  receive  the  coupons.  The  possession  and  production  by  the 
Exchange  of  these  used-up  covers  are  conclusive  evidence  to  the  contrary. 

These  coupon  books  have  certain  inherent  defects  that  are  more  or 
less  serious.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  found  that  they  can  be  used  as  stakes 
in  gambling  games  and  can  also  be  sold  or  otherwise  transferred  by  the 
original  drawer.  This  is  objectionable,  not  merely  because  it  is  against 
regulations,  but  also  because  the  person  who  so  receives  the  coupons  is  not 
apt  to  draw  coupons  of  his  own,  thus  tending  to  curtail  the  amount  of 
coupon  sales  transacted  by  the  Exchange.  This  transferring  of  coupons 
can  be  accomplished  in  several  ways.  In  large  garrisons  it  will  take  a  little 
time  before  the  clerks  will  know  each  man  by  sight,  especially  when  there 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  35 

is  an  influx  of  recruits.  If  a  customer  is  not  known  to  the  clerks,  he  might 
he  ahle  to  use  another  soldier's  coupon  book  unless  the  clerk  should  require 
him  to  write  his  name  and  compare  it  with  the  signature  on  the  book 
presented.  This  would  be  impracticable  at  certain  times  of  the  month 
when  the  coupon  sales -were  heavy,  as  it  would  consume  too  much  time, 
thus  preventing  the  clerks  from  waiting  upon  other  customers  as  promptly 
as  they  should.  Ii  is  evident  that  tl  is  kind  of  a  transfer  could  be  effected 
with  any  kind  of  coupons,  and  there  is  no  preventive  except  to  have  the 
clerks  become  acquainted  with  every  man  in  the  garrison  at  the  earliest 
practicable  moment.  When  there  is  time,  the  clerks  should,  in  doubtful 
cases,  require  the  customer  to  write  his  name  and  then  compare  it  with  the 
name  signed  on  the  book.  All  clerks  should  understand  that  when  any 
person  presents  a  coupon  book  not  his  own  the  book  is  forfeited  to  the 
Exchange  and  the  occurrence  is  to  be  reported  to  the  Exchange  Officer. 

Another  way  in  which  coupons  can  be  transferred  (unless  each  coupon 
is  numbered  to  correspond  to  the  cover)  is  as  follows  : — Private  A  bor- 
rows from  Private  B  fifty  cents  in  cash  and  gives  him  a  dollar  coupon  book 
in  exchange.  Private  B  removes  the  staple  which  binds  this  book  together, 
takes  the  book  apart  and  throws  away  the  cover.  He  then  loosens  the 
staple  in  a  book  which  he  himself  has  drawn  at  the  Exchange  and  care- 
cully  inserts  enough  of  the  loose  coupon  sheets  from  A's  book  to  fill  it  up 
again,  and  bends  the  staple  back  into  its  original  position.  This  scheme  is 
of  wider  prevalence  than  most  Exchange  Officers  would  imagine,  and  it  is 
very  hard  to  detect. 

Another  fault  to  be  found  with  the  coupon  book  lies  in  the  possibility 
of  there  being  a  wrong  number  of  sheets  of  coupons  in  it.  Printers  are 
but  human  and  it  sometimes  happens  that  there  are  too  few  or  too  many 
coupons  in  a  book.  Unless  this  is  detected  before  issue,  it  causes  an  error 
in  our  statement  of  coupons  outstanding.  To  prevent  this,  it  is  necessary 
to  examine  each  book  before  issuing  it,  (even  before  handing  them  over  to 
the  coupon  clerk),  a  tedious  operation,  one  which  consumes  unnecessary 
time  and  labor. 

In  most  Exchanges,  the  conviction  sooner  or  later  arises  that  there  are 
coupons  outstanding  of  which  the  Exchange  has  no  record.  This  may 
occur  through  the  suspicion  that  some  person  has  acquired  coupons  in  some 
unauthorized  manner.  When  such  cases  arise,  it  is  customary  to  place  the 
Exchange  Officer's  signature  on  the  backs  of  the  coupons  or  to  employ 
some  secret  mark.  This  is  a  laborious  and  expensive  operation  and  should 
not  be  resorted  to  unless  necessary.  In  justice  to  our  printers,  be  it  said 
that  they  use  every  endeavor  to  prevent  coupons  from  falling  into  un- 


36  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

authorized  hands,  but  Exchange  Officers,  if  inexperienced,  do  not  always 
appreciate  the  importance  of  taking  like  precautions.  All  coupon  books 
should  be  kept  in  a  place  that  is  absolutely  secure,  and  nobody  should  have 
access  to  same,  except  the  Exchange  Officer  himself.  He  should  use  every 
effort  to  prevent  a  single  book  from  reaching  his  customers  except  in  the 
regular  way.  He  should  take  from  the  coupon  vault  only  enough  books  to 
supply  the  demand,  and  they  should  be  carefully  accounted  for  by  the 
clerk  who  issues  them  to  the  men. 

Some  Exchange  Officers  use  a  fac-simile  stamp  instead  of  counter- 
signing each  book  in  person.  If  this  is  done,  the  stamp  should  be  most 
carefully  guarded,  and  kept  in  the  personal  possession  of  the  Exchange 
Officer.  When  the  stamp  is  made,  there  should  be  incorporated  in  it,  some 
secret  mark,  otherwise,  any  person  could  secure  another  similar  stamp,  to 
the  possible  loss  of  the  Exchange.  This  secret  mark  should  be  in  the 
nature  of  a  double  instead  of  a  single  period  or  some  other  inconspicuous 
mark  that  would  probably  not  "take"  well  should  any  person  attempt  to 
produce  a  second  fac-simile  from  an  impression  of  the  genuine  stamp. 

The  second  type  of  coupon,  shown  in  Fig.  14,  corrects  some  of  the 
faults  of  the  coupon  book.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  much  cheaper,  the  first 
order  being  about  one-half  and  subsequent  orders  costing  about  one-third 
of  the  price  of  the  coupon  books.  This  is  an  important  saving  because  the 
cost  of  coupons  is  a  dead  loss  to  the  Exchange,  and  if  a  satisfactory  coupon 
can  be  obtained  at  a  low  cost,  it  should  be  used  as  a  matter  of  course,  and 
the  overhead  charges  correspondingly  reduced. 

As  will  be  noted,  these  coupons  consist  of  a  single  sheet  of  stamps  or 
coupons,  separated  by  slot  perforations,  the  whole  sheet  containing  twenty 
5c  coupons.  Considerable  experience  in  this  line  prompts  the  statement 
that  no  real  advantage  is  gained  by  having  coupon  books  of  denominations 
higher  than  one  dollar.  The  style  of  coupon  here  illustrated  makes  a 
virtue  of  this  fact  and  all  slips  are  ordinarily  made  in  the  one  dollar 
denomination  only.  In  counting  up  the  coupons  after  the  day's  work,  we 
know  that,  regardless  of  colors,  each  coupon  represents  5c.  Another  beauty 
of  the  scheme  is  that  it  is  practically  impossible  to  have  strips  containing  a 
wrong  number  of  coupons,  the  method  of  manufacture  almost  precluding 
such  a  possibility,  thus  obviating  the  laborious  checking  process.  Still  an- 
other advantage  is  that  the  whole  dollar's  worth  of  coupons  is  printed  on  a 
single  piece  of  paper,  thus  preventing  any  addition  to  its  value,  as  is  pos- 
sible with  the  book  when  partially  depleted.  One  might  think  that  the 
smaller  size  of  these  coupons  would  make  them  hard  to  handle  and 
count,  but  an  officer  of  considerable  experience  in  this  line  of  work  states 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  37 


820 


Issued  to: 
Countersigned  by: 


Exchange  Officer 


v  "m 


/" 


L_M 


r 


if;c.X/    m 


Figure  14. 


38  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

that  by  using  the  rubber  end  of  a  pencil  they  can  be  counted  with  more 
facility  than  can  the  other  style  of  coupons.  Some  Exchanges  would  prob- 
ably require  each  strip  to  have  attached  to  it  a  detachable  stub  on  which 
the  soldier  would  be  required  to  receipt  for  the  coupons  and  also  promise 
to  pay  for  them  at  next  pay  day.  In  this  case,  as  in  the  case  of  the  coupon 
books,  such  practice  merely  adds  unnecessary  work  and  serves  no  useful 
purpose.  On  pay-day,  we  should  have  to  handle  one  such  stub  for  every 
dollar's  worth  of  coupons  that  each  soldier  had  drawn ;  each  of  these  stubs 
or  cards  would  then  have  to  be  stamped  "Paid"  and  returned  to  the  sol- 
dier. This  is  not  an  efficient  method. 

Whichever  style  of  coupon  is  decided  upon  for  use  should  be  printed 
on  stock  of  various  colors  and  coupons  of  one  color  only  should  be  issued 
until  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  check  on  our  outstanding  coupons.  (Of 
course,  if  the  books  are  used,  it  will  be  necessary  to  have  the  5c  and  the  lOc 
coupons  of  different  colors.)  The  color  should  then  be  shifted  and  when 
coupons  of  the  old  color  cease  appearing,  we  can  arrive  at  an  approximate 
check. on  our  outstnding  coupon  account.  We  say  "approximate"  because 
it  sometimes  happens  that  a  man  puts  away  a  whole  or  a  partially  used 
book  in  a  garment  and  thus  inadvertently  retires  it  from  circulation  for  a 
space  of  time  that  may  stretch  into  months.  Of  course,  this  could  be  pre- 
vented by  issuing  a  notice  that  all  coupons  must  be  presented  before  a  cer- 
tain time,  and  that  after  that  time,  no  coupons  of  the  old  colors  would  be 
accepted.  This  would  give  us  a  fresh  starting  point  as  regards  our  out- 
standing coupons,  but  such  a  proceeding  should  be  resorted  to  only  under 
the  most  serious  circumstances,  because  it  savours  somewhat  of  a  person 
refusing  payment  on  a  draft.  When,  however,  there  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  our  Coupons  Outstanding  account  is  incorrect,  such  a  step 
should  be  taken  immediately,  as  it  is  about  the  only  practical  way  in  which 
we  can  correct  the  account — a  very  important  one. 

Regulations  Concerning  Coupons. 

Before  explaining  at  length  the  system  of  handling  coupon  sales  advo- 
cated herein,  it  may  be  well  to  examine  the  regulations  with  which  we  mu,st 
comply.  First,  comes  par.  15,  G.  ().  17fi,  W.  I)..  1909, -which  reads  as 
follows  : — 

"15.  Sales  on  Credit.  When  the  commanding  officer  and  council  are 
agreed  that  it  is  to  the  true  interest  of  the  command,  the  former  may  au- 
thorize a  credit  at  the  exchange  to  any  soldier  in  good  standing  to  an 
amount  not  exceeding  in  any  one  month  one-third  of  his  monthly  pay. 
This  will  be  given  upon  the  request  of  the  soldier,  in  writing,  approved  by 
his  company  commander,  and  these  credit  checks  will  be  carried  on  the 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  39 

accounts  of  the  exchange  as  "bills  receivable"  until  paid.  Soldiers  granted 
credit  will  be  distinctly  informed  that  they  must  make  prompt  and  un- 
solicited payment  to  the  exchange  officer  on  next  pay  day.  Defaulters  will 
be  debarred  the  privileges  of  the  exchange  and  are  liable  to  trial  and  pun- 
ishment. It  is  the  duty  of  the  soldier  who  has  been  given  credit  to  pay 
the  amount  as  soon  as  he  receives  his  pay,  and  the  exchange  officer  will  be 
present  at  the  place  of  payment  to  receive  the  money  or  make  such  arrange- 
ments as  will  facilitate  the  payment.  Credit  will  not  ordinarily  be  ex- 
tended to  a  soldier  between  the  date  of  last  payment  on  rolls  before  dis- 
charge and  the  date  of  discharge.  When  the  debt  has  remained  unpaid 
one  pay  day  on  which  the  soldier  was  paid  a  balance  sufficient  to  discharge 
such  debt  and  no  other  means  of  collection  is  practicable,  the  exchange  of- 
ficer will  notify  the  company  or  detachment  commander,  who  will  note  the 
amount  on  the  next  pay  rolls  as  "Due  Post  Exchange  —  •"  and  on 

succeeding  rolls  until  the  debt  has  been  collected,  or  until  it  is  apparent 
that  it  can  not  be  collected,  when  the  credit  check  will  be  turned  over  to 
the  company  or  detachment  in  lieu  of  so  much  cash  at  the  next  distribution 
of  profits  as  provided  in  paragraph  17." 

In  the  opinion  of  many,  it  is  unfortunate  that  an  arbitrary  limitation 
of  credit  has  been  fixed  as  shown  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  above  quoted 
paragraph,  as  it  tends  to  work  a  hardship  upon  some  of  our  most  valuable 
soldiers.  Most  of  our  older  non-commissioned  officers  and  N.  C.  staff 
officers  are  married  and  spend  most  of  their  pay  for  articles  that  are  car- 
ried in  stock  by  well  equipped  Exchanges,  such  as  meats,  groceries,  etc. 
It  is  not  always  convenient  or  even  possible  for  them  to  pay  cash  for 
purchases,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  would  do  a  much  larger  busi- 
ness with  the  Exchange  if  greater  credit  were  allowed  them.  It  is  a  well 
established  custom  to  extend  reasonable  credit  to  all  commissioned  officers ; 
it  would  seem  but  just  to  extend  a  proportionate  amount  of  credit  to  such 
N.C.O.'s  as  might  be  vouched  for  by  their  respective  organization  com- 
manders. It  is  hoped  that  this  limitation  may  be  modified,  but  until  that 
occurs,  the  Exchange  Officer  has  no  discretion  in  the  matter  and  should  be 
careful  to  avoid  any  infraction  of  the  general  rule. 

The  second  sentence  of  par.  15  also  merits  more  than  a  passing  glance. 
It  requires  a  previous  request  "in  writing"  by  the  soldier  before  credit 
coupons  can  be  issued  him,  and  the  request  must  be  approved  by  his  com- 
pany commander.  It  is  not  specifically  stated  that  this  request  must  be 
renewed  every  month,  nor  is  the  writer  aware  that  this  point  has  ever  been 
decided.  We  may,  therefore,  assume,  when  any  man  has  once  made  this 
written  request,  that  credit  to  the  amount  of  one-third  of  his  monthly  pay 
be  extended  to  him,  that  he  need  not  formally  renew  this  request  monthly. 
Should  this  interpretation  prove  fallacious,  we  must  have  the  consolidated 
request  (Form  25,  to  be  described  hereafter)  signed  by  the  men  monthly. 
If  this  is  done,  the  list  should  be  signed  at  the  same  time  as  the  pay  rolls,  to 


40  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

save  trouble  for  the  men.  It  is  found  that  when  there  is  an  unnecessary 
amount  of  "red  tape"  connected  with  the  operation  of  securing  credit 
coupons,  the  men  will  (perhaps  unconsciously)  tend  to  shun  the  process. 
with  consequent  loss  of  business  to  the  Exchange.  There  is  every  reason 
why  we  should  make  it  as  easy  as  possible  for  everybody  to  transact 
business  with  the  Exchange  and  any  unnecessary  stumbling  blocks  should 
be  carefully  searched  out  and  removed.  The  Exchange  should  be  run  on 
the  same  general  principles  which  govern  a  civilian  store,  and  if  the  latter 
subjected  its  customers  to  petty  annoyances  of  any  kind,  it  would  soon  be 
driven  out  of  business  by  lack  of  trade. 

Returning  to  paragraph  15,  it  might  be  remarked  that  perhaps  the  best 
way  in  which  the  men  can  be  "distinctly  informed  that  they  must  make 
prompt  and  unsolicited  payment",  is  by  incorporating  this  statement  on  the 
receipt  which  they  sign  when  the  coupons  are  issued  to 'them.  Beside  the 
other  matter  contained  in  par.  15,  we  should  note  par.  K5  and  par.  14  (c)  and 
(e)  of  the  same  order.  They  read  as  follows: — 

"13.  Checks  or  Coupons.  The  use  of  checks  or  coupons  representing 
values,  and  exchangeable  for  merchandise  or  other  charges  at  the  ex- 
change, is  encouraged  merely;  but  care  should  be  taken  that  these  checks 
are  not  disposed  of  to  unauthorized  persons,  and  to  provide  against  this, 
they  should  never  be  redeemed  in  cash.  When  permitted  by  the  command- 
ing officer,  they  should  be  sold  by  the  exchange  officer  and  regarded  as  a 
liability  until  redeemed. 

The  coupon-book  system  of  extending  credit  to  enlisted  men  will  be 
used  by  all  exchanges  conducted  at  posts  where  more  than  two  organiza- 
tions are  stationed,  except  at  temporary  stations  and  at  places  where  con- 
ditions of  service  have  made  it  impracticable  to  procure  the  coupon  books. 

These  coupon  books  will  bear  the  name  of  the  enlisted  man  to  whom 
issued  and  will  be  honored  at  the  exchange  only  when  presented  by  the 
enlisted  man  whose  name  appears  on  the  book." 

"14'  (c).  Bills  Receivable  (Enlisted  Men). — To  show  the  value  of 
checks  issued  to  enlisted  men,  and  the  amount  of  cash  received  from  them 
in  payment  of  their  due  bills.  When  checks  are  issued,  the  entry  will  be 
'Cash,  Dr.  to  Bills  Receivable.'  The  difference  between  the  two  sides  of 
the  account  will  show  the  amount  of  due  bills  on  hand  unpaid."  (Par.  11, 
G.  O.  201/09.) 

"14  (e).  Check  Account. — To  show  the  amount  of  checks  outstand- 
ing. When  the  checks  are  issued,  this  account  will  be  credited  as  above, 
thus,  'Bills  Receivable,  Dr.  to  Checks.'  The  amount  of  checks  received 
each  day  for  merchandise  will  be  charged  to  the  account,  thus,  'Checks,  Dr. 
to  Merchandise.'  The  difference  between  the  two  sides  will  show  th<- 
amount  of  checks  outstanding." 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  41 

Note  that  the  outstanding  coupons  are  a  liability,  as  they  may  be  pre- 
sented as  a  claim  against  the  Exchange  at  any  time.  Of  course,  the  re- 
ceipts which  the  men  have  given  us  for  these  coupons,  in  other  words, 
their  notes  promising  to  pay  us  for  the  coupons,  are  an  asset  and  should 
be  carried  under  Bills  Receivable.  Some  Exchanges  call  such  assets  "Bills 
Receivable,  Credit  Coupons",  thus  differentiating  them  from  such  as  Bills 
Receivable,  Charge  Accounts  or  Bills  Receivable,  Laundry  Coupons. 

Paragraph  14  (c)  and  (e)  translated  into  non-technical  language 
simply  means  that  when  we  issue  coupon  books  of  a  certain  value  to  the 
men,  we  must  enter  this  amount  on  the  left  hand  or  debit  side  of  our 
"Bills  Receivable"  account  in  the  Ledger,  thus  charging  up  "Mr.  Bills 
Receivable",  as  it  is  sometimes  explained,  with  a  certain  amount  for  which 
he  must  account.  Now,  as  the  Ledger  is  to  be  kept  according  to  the  double 
entry  system,  we  must  obey  the  fundamental  principle  of  this  system, 
which  is,  "for  every  account  that  is  charged  (debited)  a  certain  amount 
we  must  credit  some  other  account  with  the  same  amount",  hence  the 
name,  double  entry.  In  view  of  these  facts,  therefore,  we  turn  to  our 
Check  Account — or  Outstanding  Coupons,  if  you  prefer  to  call  it  so,  and 
credit  this  account  with  the  same  amount  that  we  charged  against  Bills 
Receivable.  When  we  receive  the  cash  for  the  men's  notes  at  pay  day,  we 
credit  "Mr.  Bills  Receivable"  with  the  amount  taken  in,  thus  clearing  him 
of  this  amount  and  making  him  no  longer  responsible  for  it.  We  have 
previously,  of  course,  entered  this  amount  on  the  debit  side  of  the  Cash 
Book,  for  the  same  reason  noted  above.  When  the  coupons  are  presented 
by  the  men  in  payment  for  articles  purchased  by  them,  we  credit  "Mer- 
chandise" (or  the  proper  department  of  the  Exchange,  if  departments  are 
use)  with  the  amount  taken  in.  This,  for  the  reason  that  said  department 
is  no  longer  accountable  for  that  amount  of  merchandise;  we  must,  there- 
fore credit  that  department  with  the  proper  amount  and  charge  or  debit  it 
against  the  outstanding  coupon  or  Check  account.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  outstanding  coupons  are  a  liability  against  us  and  are  in  the  nature  of 
bills  payable — except  that  they  are  payable  only  in  merchandise.  Hence,  if 
we  consider  this  account  as  a  living  person — one  of  our  creditors — it  will 
appear  more  logical  when  we  place  to  his  credit  everything  we  owe  him, 
i.  e.,  the  coupons  we  have  given  him,  and  to  charge  him  the  value  of  the 
merchandise  he  has.  obtained  from  us  in  return. 

The  above  prolix  explanation  will  sound  puerile  to  an  experienced 
accountant ;  it  is  not  written  for  him,  but  for  the  inexperienced  man  with 
little  or  no  knowledge  of  scientific  book-keeping,  who  is  trying  to  work 
this  system  or  one  like  it.  The  writer  knows  from  bitter  experience  how 
hard  it  is  to  avoid  some  of  the  unexpected  pit-falls  of  double  entry. 


42 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


Now  we  are  in  a  position  to  describe  the  manner  of  handling  our 
coupon  sales,  starting  from  the  very  beginning. 

Issuing  Coupons. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  have  the  various  organizations  submit 
their  lists  of  men  who  are  entitled  to  credit  at  the  Exchange.  This  is 
usually  done  a  few  days  after  pay  day,  it  being  the  excellent  custom  in 
most  Exchanges  to  issue  no  coupons  until  about  five  days  after,  in  order 
to  attract  some  of  the  cash  that  is  apt  to  be  plentiful  for  only  a  few  days. 
One  of  the  best  forms  for  such  a  list  known  to  the  writer  is  Form  2."), 
shown  in  Fig.  15.  It  measures  9  x  20  inches  and  may  be  punched  to  fit  a 


BACK_ 

CR 


LNDY 


CURRENT 


LDDY 


TOTAL 


DUE   PAID 


678       9    10   11     12 


'     '  • 

Fo-r,      25.    P.I. 

TOTAL    ON  THi3   SHEET 

P'A/D  ~  BEFORE  ~PAY~D/\Y 
PAID    AT     P*Y    TABLE 

PAID   AFTER     PAYDAY 

UNPAID.       :     -  .--•••- 

Figure  15.  (Reduced  in  size) 

loose  leaf  file.  Tt  is  faint  ruled  horizontally  six  lines  to  the  inch  in  order 
to  fit  typewriter  spacing.  The  length  of  this  form  enables  a  whole  com- 
pany of  110  men  to  be  entered  on  its  face,  without  resorting  to  the  neces- 
sily  of  turning  a  page.  In  garrisons  where  the  organizations  are  uniformly 
smaller,  the  length  of  the  form  can  be  correspondingly  reduced.  Each 
organization  fills  out  one  of  these  sheets  on  a  typewriter,  entering  the 
names  of  the  men  in  pay  roll  order  in  column  :J.  In  column  2  is  entered 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  43 

the  rank  of  each  man,  and  in  column  4  is  entered  the  amount  of  credit  he 
desires,  which  must  not  exceed  one-third  of  his  pay.  The  men  sign  their 
names  in  column  1  and  in  space  A  is  printed  the  statement  to  which  they 
subscribe — that  they  request  credit  to  the  amount  of  one-third  of  their  pay 
and  that  they  promise  to  pay  for  their  coupons  on  the  pay  day  after  draw- 
ing same,  etc.  This  list  is  then  sent  to  the  Exchange  at  the  regular  time, 
preferably  a  day  or  two  before  coupons  are  to  be  issued. 

There  is  a  point  in  this  connection  that  sometimes  causes  trouble,  due 
to  the  fact  that  pay  day  never  comes  on  the  first  of  the  month.  There  are 
two  ways  of  handling  the  situation.  The  first  is  to  have  the  companies 
submit  their  lists  to  the  Exchange  on  the  first  of  the  month  and  tl.e 
Exchange  issue  coupons  on  this  authority  until  the  last  of  the  same  month 
with  the  exception  of  the  five  days  after  pay  day,  during  which  time,  no 
coupons  are  issued.  The  men  pay  for  the  coupons  on  the  pay  day  which 
occurs  in  the  succeeding  month.  The  principal  objection  to  this  method  is 
that  if  a  man  draws  his  full  allowance  of  coupons  on  or  near  the  first  of 
every  month,  he  would,  if  he  deserted  a  few  days  before  pay  day,  cause 
the  Exchange  a  loss  of  twice  his  monthly  allowance.  The  second  way  of 
proceeding  obviates  this  defect :  it  consists  in  having  the  companies  submit 
their  lists  a  few  days  after  each  pay  day.  The  Exchange  issues  coupons 
on  this  authority  and  all  of  these  coupons  are  supposed  to  be  paid  on  the 
pay  day  which  winds  up  this  period.  Therefore,  it  is  seen  that  the  Ex- 
change runs  a  smaller  chance  of  loss,  or  rather,  the  chances  are  that  the 
loss  will  be  smaller. 

Upon  receiving  these  lists,  the  coupon  clerk  at  the  Exchange  takes  a 
supply  of  Form  19,  shown  in  Fig.  16,  and  enters  the  names  of  the  men  at 
the  top  of  these  cards,  one  card  for  each  man  who  is  entitled  to  credit. 
This  work  can  be  done  at  odd  moments  during  the  month.  It  is  also  a 
good  plan  to  enter  the  amount  of  credit  to  which  the  man  is  entitled. 
This  data  should  be  entered  at  the  very  top  of  the  card  where  it  will  catch 
the  eye.  These  cards  are  3x5  inches,  specially  printed;  they  fit  into  the 
filing  cabinet,  to  be  described  later.  One  standard  drawer  15^2  inches  long 
will  hold  enough  cards  to  take  care  of  a  six  company  post.  The  cards 
should  be  of  fairly  good  writing  stock,  but  no  thicker  than  is  necessary  to 
insure  ease  of  handling.  They  can  be  obtained  from  any  job  printer,  but 
care  should  be  exercised  that  they  measure  precisely  3x5  inches,  otherwise, 
Jiey  will  prove  very  troublesome  to  run  over  rapidly  in  the  drawer,  be- 
cause some  will  be  larger  than  others.  Plain  cards  of  this  size  can  be 
bought  at  $1.50  per  thousand  from  regular  dealers.  All  cards  pertaining 
to  any  one  company  are  behind  an  index  card  bearing  on  its  tab  the 


44 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


designation  of  that  company.  It  is  also  a  convenience  to  have  a  set  of 
alphabetical  guides  for  each  company,  as  they  facilitate  finding  and  filing 
the  cards.  After  any  of  these  cards  receives  a  record,  it  is  highly  important 
that  it  be  not  lost  or  stolen,  so  the  drawer  containing  them  should  be 


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Q 

POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  45 

locked  except  when  actually  in  use.  When  any  man  applies  for  coupon 
books  at  the  Exchange,  he  signs  his  name  in  the  space  provided  on  the 
card,  the  clerk  adds  his  own  initials  as  witness,  stamps  in  the  date  and 
enters  in  ink  or  indelible  pencil  (or  preferably  by  means  of  a  rubber 
stamp)  the  amount  of  the  coupons  issued.  If  the  clerk  does  not  recognize 
the  man,  he  compares  his  signature  with  the  same  man's  signature  on  Form 
25,  which  he  should  have  near  him  for  this  purpose  and  to  see  that  the 
man  does  not  overdraw  his  allowance.  He  also  requires  the  man  to  sign 
his  name  on  the  stub  of  the  coupon  slip  or  the  cover  of  the  coupon  book 
issued.  In  addition,  the  clerk  should  have  at  hand  a  strip  of  paper  on 
which  he  has  entered  in  rotation  along  the  left  hand  margin  the  serial  num- 
bers of  the  coupons  he  has  on  hand.  Such  a  strip  can  be  struck  off  on 
the  adding  machine.  As  coupons  are  issued,  the  clerk  should  enter  oppo- 
site each  number,  the  name  of  the  man  to  whom  it  was  issued.  He  can  do 
this  while  the  man  is  signing  the  coupons,  so  no  time  is  wasted.  In  the 
evening,  this  strip  is  given  to  the  Steward  or  cashier  and  the  total  value 
of  coupons  issued  is  entered  in  the  proper  place  on  the  Steward's  daily- 
report  (Form  4,  Fig.  5).  The  record  of  this  strip  is  checked  by  com- 
parison with  the  number  of  coupons  left  in  the  possession  of  the  coupon 
clerk. 

It  is  found  in  practice  that  Form  19  contains  sufficient  space  for 
noting  the  transactions  of  any  month,  for  very  few  men  will  draw  coupons 
as  many  as  six  times  during  the  month.  It  will  be  noted  that  this  scheme 
does  not  contemplate  restricting  the  men  to  but  one  drawing  during  the 
month,  as  is  the  practice  in  some  places.  The  Exchange  loses  trade  by 
such  methods,  and  much  better  results  are  obtained  by  permitting  the  men 
to  draw  when  they  please. 

When  the  end  of  the  month  arrives,  the  coupon  clerk  disregards  it  by 
continuing  to  use  the  same  set  of  cards  right  along  until  24  hours  before 
pay  day  occurs.  (It  should  be  understood  by  the  whole  garrison  that  no 
coupons  will  be  issued  during  this  time,  in  order  to  allow  the  coupon  clerk 
to  work  up  his  pay  table  collection  sheets).  By  means  of  an  assistant,  the 
coupon  clerk  transfers  the  total  of  the  coupons  shown  on  each  Form  19  to 
column  10  on  Form  25  opposite  the  name  of  the  man  to  whom  that  particu- 
lar Form  19  refers.  As  fractional  parts  of  a  dollar  are  not  issued,  $5.00 
can  be  abbreviated  to  "5".  At  the  same  time,  the  coupon  clerk  reads  off 
the  totals  of  any  unpaid  cards  that  have  been  carried  from  the  preceding 
month,  these  figures  being  entered  in  the  same  manner  in  columns  5,  6  or  7, 
as  the  case  may  be.  It  will  be  noted  that  these  cards  have  no  place  for 
"brought  forward"  entries.  This  is  unnecessary  labor  and  is  therefore 
omitted.  It  is  no  argument  against  such  a  practice  to  ask  what  would 


46  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

happen  if  one  of  the  old  unpaid  cards  became  lost,  because  we  might 
ask  the  same  question  concerning  the  current  cards.  The  answer  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  checking  system  will  take  care  of  such  cases.  In  this  in- 
stance, columns  5,  6  and  7  are  checked  back  to  the  Forms  25  pertaining  to 
the  preceding  month. 

It  will  be  noted  that  our  Form  25  makes  provision  for  entering  Laun- 
dry charges  and  has  in  addition  a  spare  blank  column  for  such  miscellan- 
eous collections  as  may  be  found  desirable.  The  particulars  of  the  Laun- 
dry entries  will  be  dilated  upon  later.  When  the  amounts  that  the  various 
men  of  any  organization  owe  to  the  Exchange  have  been  entered  in  their 
proper  columns,  each  line  is  added  across  and  the  totals  due  from  each  man 
entered  in  the  proper  column.  Each  column  is  then  totaled  on  the  adding 
machine  and  the  footings  checked  by  comparing  the  total  of  the  total 
column  with  the  sum  of  the  totals  of  the  other  columns.  If  they  agree, 
that  sheet  is  ready  for  payment,  and  a  like  process  is  instituted  with  the 
other  sheets.  These  sheets  and  the  Forms  19  are  the  only  papers  that  need 
be  taken  to  the  pay  table. 

Pay  Table  Procedure. 

It  may  be  just  as  well  to  discuss  this  point  here,  because  it  is  related  to 
our  coupon  sales  more  closely  than  to  anything  else. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  make  sure  there  is  available  a  plentiful 
supply  of  change.  Where  there  is  no  bank  convenient  to  the  post  and  the 
men  receive  their  money  from  a  paymaster,  he  will  sometimes  agree  to 
bring  with  him  an  amount  of  change  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the  Post 
Exchange,  but  if  there  is  a  bank  available,  we  should  hesitate  before  im- 
posing upon  the  good  nature  of  the  paymaster  to  this  extent.  It  is  a  great 
convenience  to  the  men  to  have  their  ten  dollar  bills  "changed",  and  no 
Post  Exchange  should  demur  when  the  men  offer  such  bills  in  payment  of 
their  debts.  We  must  always  remember  that  the  principal  reason  why  the 
Exchange  exists  is  to  be  a  convenience  to  the  enlisted  man. 

There  should  be  three  persons  at  the  Exchange  table  on  pay  days ;  the 
Exchange  Officer  to  personally  receive  the  cash  and  make  change,  the 
Steward  or  book-keeper  to  read  from  Forms  25  the  amount  each  man 
owes,  and  a  clerk  to  check  this  reading  with  the  men's  notes  (Form  19), 
cancel  them  and  deliver  same  to  the  men.  A  non-commissioned  officer  of 
the  organization  being  paid  is  stationed  beside  the  Steward  to  identify  the 
men.  He  calls  to  the  Steward  the  names  of  the  men  as  they  come  up,  the 
Steward  calls  off  the  amount  that  each  man  owes,  the  latter  gives  the 
money  to  the  Exchange  Officer.  The  clerk  has  meanwhile  checked  the 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  47 

total  amount  covered  by  Form  19  with  the  amount. read  off  by  the  Steward, 
stamped  the  card  "Paid"  and  placed  it  in  front  of  the  Exchange  Officer  for 
his  inspection.  The  latter  then  gives  the  card  to  the  man  with  his  change 
and  the  incident  is  closed.  It  is  usually  found  advisable  to  have  a  selected 
non-commissioned  officer  detailed  to  see  that  all  men  report  at  the  Ex- 
change table. 

After  payment  is  finished,  the  clerk  should  total  the  value  of  the  cards 
he  still  holds  for  each  organization  and  subtract  it  from  the  total  shown  by 
the  proper  Form  25.  The  sum  of  all  these  remainders  should  equal  the 
amount  of  cash  actually  taken  in  at  the  Exchange  table.  This  check  should 
always  be  made,  and  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  man  pays  for  his  coupons  before  pay  day; 
he  may  have  been  discharged  or  transferred,. etc.  In  such  a  case  this  fact 
should  be  stamped  on  Form  25  and  the  total  of  such  amounts  deducted  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sheet  before  going  to  the  pay  table.  The  amount  of 
such  payments  should  also  be  entered  on  the  debit  side  of  the  Cash  Book 

as  "Pvt.  Jones,  Co.  A,  $3.00  $3.00",  the  sums  coming  under 

the  net  cash  and  the  credit  coupons  columns  respectively.  If  he  also  paid 

$1.40  for  laundry  work  done,  this  entry  would  be  "Pvt.  Jones,  Co.  A, 

$4.40 $3.00 $1.40",  the  sums  coming  under  net  cash,  credit  cou- 
pons and  laundry  coupons  respectively.  The  amounts  collected  at  the 
pay  table  are  entered  in  the  Cash  Book  in  the  same  way,  all  on  one  line.  At 
the  end  of  the  month  or  when  the  books  are  closed,  the  total  of  the  credit 
coupons  column  is  posted  as  a  lump  sum  to  the  credit  of  the  Bills  Receiv- 
able, Credit  Coupons  account  in  the  Ledger  and  the  Laundry  collections 
are  handled  in  the  same  way. 

Having  traced  this  branch  of  the  coupon  business  to  its  end,  let  us 
retrace  our  steps  and  follow  another  branch  until  we  come  to  the  same 
goal,  the  Ledger. 

Coupon  Sales. 

When  the  men  receive  their  coupons,  they  use  them  for  purchasing 
articles  from  the  Exchange.  The  clerk  making  a  coupon  sale  should  iden- 
tify the  man  making  the  purchase  and  make  sure  he  is  using  his  own 
coupons.  He  should  also  satisfy  himself  that  there  is  no  fraud,  forgery, 
etc.,  connected  with  the  coupons.  These  two  operations  are  ordinarily  in- 
stantaneous, requiring  no  waste  of  time  whatever.  The  clerk  then  gives 
the  purchaser  the  desired  articles,  tears  off  a  corresponding  value  in  cou- 
pons and  drops  them  in  his  private  drawer  or  compartment,  meanwhile 
ringing  up  the  sale  on  the  cash  register  and  giving  the  purchaser  the  re- 
ceipt printed  by  the  register. 


48 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


After   the   day's   work 
is       over,       each       clerk 
handles  his  coupon  sales 
in    the    same    manner   as 
previously   described   for 
charge    sales,    and    they 
are  checked  by  the  Stew- 
ard as  before.     The  latter 
enters    on    his    Form    4, 
(Fig.   5)    the  amount  of 
coupon     sales     made    by 
each  clerk,  also,  the  total 
amount    of    coupons    is- 
sued    during     the     day. 
All   these   coupon   trans- 
actions  for  any  one   day 
"are    then    entered    on    a 
•3  single    line    of    Form    26 
.2  (Fig.    17)    which    is    the 
l?same    as    that    used    for 
Form  7.    As  will  be  noted 
from     an     inspection     of 
^the  cut,  the   coupons   is- 
^sued  are  entered  in  col- 
£  umn  A  and  the  total  re- 
ceipts   from    all    depart- 
*ments  are  entered  in  col- 
umn   B.     These    receipts 
are     distributed     among 
the  department  as  shown, 
the  value  carried  in  col- 
umn B  equalling  the  sum 
of  the  amounts  carried  in 
the  columns  to  the  right. 
Each    Form    26    refers 
solely     to     one     month's 
transactions,  there  are  no 
"brought  forward"  items. 
At  the  end  of  the  month 
or    whenever    the    books 
are  closed,  all  of  the  col- 
umns   on   this    form   are 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


49 


footed  up  and  the  totals  checked  across.  The  total  of  column  A  should  agree 
with  the  strip  record  which  the  coupon  clerk  has  been  keeping  as  previously 
described.  The  detailed  process  of  checking  this  account  will  be  described 
later,  but  it  is  evident  that  if  the  Steward  has  made  out  his  daily  reports 
(Form  4)  correctly,  and  correctly  copied  the  coupon  records  to  Form  26, 
there  can  be  no  error  in  the  latter  statement.  After  successfully  withstanding 
the  checking  process,  the  total  of  column  A  is  posted  as  a  lump  sum  to  the 
debit  side  of  "Bills  Receivable,  Credit  Accounts"  in  the  Ledger,  writing  the 
entry  thus  : — "Aug.  31  Credit  Coupons  $54.00".  It  will  be  remembered 
that  we  must  also  credit  this  amount  to  the  Outstanding  Coupon  account. 
We  now  transfer  the  total  of  the  Store  column  to  the  Store  Account  in  our 
Ledger,  entering  on  the  right  hand  or  credit  side,  "Aug.  31  Coupon 
sales  $8.15".  We  proceed  in  like  manner  with  our  other  departments. 
The  total  of  column  B  must,  of  course,  be  charged  (debited)  against  the 
Outstanding  Coupon  account  in  the  Ledger. 

A  summary  of  all  these  operations  is  shown  graphically  in  Fig.  18. 
The  solid  lines  show  how  a  record  is  carried  through  the  books  until  it 
arrives  at  the  Ledger.  The  doited  lines  show  the  various  checking  opera- 
tions that  are  possible.  Attention  is  especially  invited  to  checking  Forms 
25  and  26  against  each  other. 


REQUIRED  —< •  UtilLY 


ORDER 


FORM  17 

(JELL) 

(SFLL) 

\PURCHWV- -i  r^rr 

/It co HD  £"•  ^CHtCK 


Figure  18. 


50  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

In  leaving  the  subject,  it  is  deemed  proper  to  state  that  the  Exchange 
Officer  should  keep  a  single  entry  record  of  all  unused  coupons  on  hand. 
When  they  are  first  received  from  the  printer,  he  should  carefully  check 
them  in  person  and  see  that  they  are  safely  stored.  His  record  of  them  should 
show  the  numbers  and  colors  of  the  coupons  and  exactly  how  many  of  the 
various  colors  he  has  on  hand  at  any  time. 

Coupons  should  be  issued  at  a  fixed  time  daily,  and  the  Exchange  Of- 
ficer should  see  to  it  that  the  men  are  never  disappointed,  but  are  always 
able  to  secure  their  coupons  at  the  specified  time. 

STOCK  RECORDS. 

In  General. 

One  of  the  most  important  points  connected  with  the  running  of  any 
store,  is  that  referring  to  the  manner  in  which  the  records  of  the  stock  are 
kept.  In  most  Exchanges,  the  stock  records  are  not  good ;  usually,  because 
a  clumsy  or  inefficient  system  of  records  is  in  force.  An  endeavor  will  be 
made  in  the  description  to  be  given  hereafter  to  set  forth  a  system  whereby 
misuse  of  stock  will  be  prevented  and  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  profits 
made  by  each  department  will  be  possible.  The  objection  may  be  made  to 
this  system  that  in  a  large  exchange  it  would  require  the  services  of  one 
clerk  to  keep  the  stock  records  alone,  but  when  we  realize  that  an  inefficient 
stock  record  can  and  usually  does  result  in  losses  that  are  sometimes  much 
greater  in  value  than  this  clerk's  wages,  we  see  the  futility  of  such  an  argu- 
ment. It  is  useless  to  try  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  we  must  keep 
accurate  track  of  our  merchandise.  In  an  exchange  at,  say,  a  5-company 
post,  it  is  economy  to  pay  one  man  $100.00  per  month  or  even  more,  to 
take  exclusive  charge  of  the  stock  records. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  essential  to  make  clear  in  the  minds  of  the 
Exchange  authorities  the  difference  between  a  stock  room  and  a  store 
room.  The  former  is  for  storing  merchandise  that  is  bought  in  large 
quantities  and  will  not  be  needed  in  the  various  departments  for  some  time. 
The  merchandise  in  the  stock  room  is  charged  to  it  on  the  Stock  Records 
until  it  is  needed  in  one  of  the  departments  when  it  is  sent  to  and  its  value 
charged  against  that  department  and  credited  to  the  stock  room.  A  store 
room  in  the  sense  now  considered  is  a  place  in  which  we  may  store  the 
merchandise  belonging  to  and  already  charged  against  any  department. 
This  "place"  may  be  but  a  corner  or  a  shelf  in  the  stock  room  or  any  other 
room.  As  a  general  rule,  it  is  best  to  charge  merchandise  direct  to  the 
proper  department,  as  it  saves  time  and  work.  Then,  if  the  department 
concerned  finds  that  it  is  inconvenient  to  keep  this  merchandise  on  its 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  51 

counters  or  shelves,  it  can  transfer  some  of  it  to  the  proper  store  room 
until  needed.  Both  the  stock  room  and  the  store  rooms  should  be  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  stock  clerk,  the  former  exclusively  so.  Efficient 
locks  should  be  provided  for  these  rooms  and  he  or  his  agent  should  be  the 
only  persons  authorized  to  handle  the  stock  therein. 

The  stock  record  is  simply  a  stock  ledger  in  which  we  keep  accurate 
account  of  the  numbers  of  articles  acquired  and  dispensed.  If  practicable, 
it  should  show  at  all  times  the  exact  number  of  each  article  that  we  have 
on  hand.  Such  a  record  is  sometimes  called  a  "Perpetual  Inventory".  It 
would  not  be  practicable  in  the  usual  case  for  us  to  keep  such  a  record  in 
post  exchange  business  for  the  reason  that  it  would  be  extravagant  for  us 
to  record  each  cash  or  coupon  sale  made  during  the  day.  For  example, 
during  certain  days  of  the  month,  such  as  pay  day  and  the  first  day  upon 
which  coupons  are  issued,  it  is  manifestly  impracticable  for  us  to  make 
out  a  sales  slip  for  each  cash  or  coupon  purchase  because  there  are  so 
many  five  and  ten  cent  purchases  that  the  cost  in  time  and  labor  involved 
in  such  a  method  would  outweigh  the  advantages  gained.  If  the  average 
sale  amounted  to  a  dollar  or  so,  it  might  pay  us  to  use  sales  slips  similar 
to  those  used  in  recording  our  charge  sales.  Therefore,  most  Exchanges  do 
not  require  cash  or  coupon  sales  to  be  recorded  except  on  the  cash  register. 
Hence,  there  is  no  itemized  record  of  the  merchandise  that  is  sold  during 
the  day  for  cash  or  for  coupons,  which  in  turn  makes  it  impossible  to  keep 
a  perpetual  inventory.  The  result  is  that  an  inventory  must  be  taken  at 
least  once  a  month. 

If  we  now  take  such  an  inventory  and  calculate  the  selling  price  of  all 
the  goods  found,  the  result  will  represent  the  receipts  each  department 
should  turn  in  if  they  sold  out  all  of  their  stock.  If  we  keep  adding  to 
this  amount  the  selling  price  of  all  merchandise  that  we  receive  for  and 
issue  to  the  departments  for  sale,  and  deduct  the  selling  price  of  all 
articles  which  each  department  turns  in  to  the  stock  room,  we  shall  have, 
at  the  end  of  the  month,  figures  which  represent  the  receipts  which  should 
be  turned  in  if  each  department  were  to  "sell  out".  By  subtracting  from 
these  amounts  the  actual  receipts  turned  in  during  the  month,  we  find  the 
selling  price  of  the  articles  which  should  be  on  hand  at  the  end  of  the 
month.  By  taking  an  inventory  at  the  end  of  the  month  and  figuring  out 
the  selling  value  of  the  articles  actually  found,  we  can  check  the  operations 
of  our  various  departments.  If  there  is  any  great  discrepancy,  it  would 
show  that  our  clerks  are,  in  effect,  taking  articles  from  our  shelves  and  the 
Exchange  is  not  getting  the  benefit  of  its  sales.  It  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  these  amounts  will  agree  to  the  cent. 


52  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

Now  if  there  is  but  one  clerk  in  any  department,  it  is  easy  to  fasten 
the  responsibility  for  any  shortage,  but  where  there  are  several,  special 
steps  must  be  taken  in  order  to  do  this.  Suppose  we  have  four  clerks  in 
the  store  department;  if  they  sell  from  the  various  shelves  indiscriminately, 
or  if  one  or  more  of  them  are  sometimes  away,  on  duty,  it  would  be  mani- 
festly unjust  to  hold  any  particular  clerk  or  even  all  of  them  responsible 
for  any  shortages  which  might  occur.  The  only  solution  lies  in  sub- 
dividing the  store  into  sections,  putting  one  clerk  in  sole  charge  of  each  and 
allow  no  clerk  to  touch  the  stock  in  another  man's  section.  In  case  a 
clerk  in  unavoidably  absent,  an  inventory  of  his  section  can  be  made  in  a 
few  minutes,  and,  if  the  results  at  the  end  of  the  month  show  it  to  be 
desirable;  checked  against  the  sales  he  had  made.  In  this  way,  both  the 
clerk  and  the  Exchange  are  protected.  A  "roving"'  clerk  or  the  Steward 
can  take  the  place  of  the  absentee  in  case  of  necessity.  Heavy  sellers  like 
tobacco  and  the  like  can  be  placed  in  the  sections  of  two  or  more  clerks, 
thus  taking  care  of  pay  day  rushes.  Unless  some  such  scheme  is  adopted 
it  will  be  absolutely  impossible  to  fix  the  responsibility  for  any  loss  the 
Exchange  may  incur. 

Those  departments  which  are,  in  effect,  "manufacturing"  departments, 
such  as  the  lunch  room,  meat  market,  etc.,  also  require  special  treatment, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  figuring  the  selling  price  of  merchandise  issued 
to  them. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  honesty  of  the  stock  clerk  must  be 
above  suspicion.  In  case  a  civilian  is  employed,  it  is  good  policy— in  fact,  it 
should  be  considered  imperative  that  he  be  required  to  execute  a  bond  for 
the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties. 

With  the  above  general  explanation  of  the  broad  principles  of  this 
particular  system,  we  are  now  prepared  to  discuss  it  more  in  detail.  It 
seems  generally  conceded  that  the  stock  records  can  be  kept  most  easily, 
cheaply  and  efficiently  by  means  of  the  card  index  system.  The  present 
regulations,  previously  cited,  specify  an  "inventory  book",,  and  inspectors 
are  prone  to  interpret  the  regulations  literally.  It  makes  little  difference 
in  our  case  which  method  is  used,  except  that  the  card  system  is  more 
efficient,  as  before  stated.  The  handling  of  the  inventory  book  requires  no 
explanation,  so,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  time  (which  should  be  in  the 
near  future)  when  the  up-to-date  card  system  of  inventory  is  specifically 
allowed  in  regulations,  the  following  description  is  given.  It  is  hoped  that 
it  will  prove  a  conclusive  answer  to  those  who  ask,  "But  suppose  you  lose 
a  card . " 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


53 


Inventories  of  Stock. 

Let  us  start  by  taking  an  inventory  of  the  stock  we  have  on  hand  in 
the  stock  room.  We  take  a  pack  containing  a  known  number  of  cards, 
preferably  numbered  in  sequence,  like  those  shown  in  Fig.  19,  and  enter  on 


• 

Macaroons                                  071 

Ibs. 

Date 

Cost 

Sell 

On  Hand 

Date 

Cost 

Sell 

On  Hand 

8-31-15 

.84 

1.05 

7 

• 

Formll.P.E 

Figure  19,  (Reduced  in  size) 

the  top  line  the  name  of  each  article  as  we  come  to  it ;  in  the  right  upper 
corner,  the  unit  in  which  we  sell  it,  whether  pounds,  bottles  or  what  not ; 
and  at  the  right  of  the  uppermost  data  line,  the  number  of  such  units 
that  we  actually  find  on  hand.  We  do  this  for  each  article  in  succession, 
using  a  different  card  for  each.  If  we  have  various  grades  of  the  same 
kind  of  article  (cigars,  for  instance)  selling  at  different  prices,  a  separate 
card  will,  of  course,  be  made  out  for  each  different  grade.  (Never  sell  the 
same  article  at  two  different  prices.  For  example,  do  not  sell  cigars  for 
"10  cents  each,  3  for  a  quarter".  Sell  them  at  either  price  and  put  in  a 
different  brand  of  equal  quality  at  the  other  price.  It  is  proper  to  give 
reduction  on  a  sale  of  a  box  of  cigars  at  a  time,  but  sell  them  from  the 
stock  room  in  such  a  case,  and  not  from  the  store.  Another  way,  per- 
mitting sale  from  the  department's  shelves,  is  by  means  of  a  discount  slip, 
which  will  be  touched  upon  later.  The  first  method,  however,  probably 
suits  our  purposes  best,  especially  when  combined  with  the  second.)  The 
cards  mentioned  above  should  be  left  with  the  articles  to  which  they  refer 
until  the  inventory  for  that  department  is  complete.  We  then  look  over 
the  shelves  to  see  that  there  is  a  card  with  every  article,  thereby  proving 
that  our  inventory  is  complete,  a  point  of  superiority  over  the  book  form 
of  inventory.  We  then  gather  up  and  count  the  cards  to  make  sure  that 


54  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

none  are  missing.  The  cards  are  then  filed  alphabetically  behind  a  tabbed 
index  card  referring  to  that  department,  or  that  particular  section,  if  the 
department  is  subdivided.  This  same  procedure  is  followed  in  taking  in- 
ventory of  merchandise  in  the  store,  lunch  room,  etc.,  except  that  a  different 
colored  card  is  used  for  each  department.  All  sections  of  the  same  depart- 
ment use  cards  of  the  same  color.  As  each  department  will  have  more  or 
less  merchandise  in  its  store  room,  it  will  probably  be  best  to  take  the 
store  room  inventories  first,  then  take  the  articles  in  the  sales  rooms.  Enter 
partial  totals  in  pencil  and  the  total  in  ink  or  indelible  pencil  on  the  first 
line  under  the  heading,  "On  Hand",  the  date  being  entered  at  the  left. 
The  number  on  hand,  multiplied  by  the  unit  cost  and  selling  prices,  re- 
spectively, will  give  the  total  cost  and  the  total  selling  price  of  all  the 
articles  on  that  card.  For  this  purpose,  the  unit  cost  and  selling  prices 
are  entered  at  the  upper  left  hand  corner  of  each  card.  The  total  cost 
prices  are  used  in  our  inventories  shown  on  our  monthly  statement,  and 
the  total  selling  prices  are  used  in  our  stock  records  only.  In  large  ex- 
changes, these  cards  are  not  used  again  until  the  next  inventory  is  taken, 
so  it  is  seen  that  they  will  last  for  several  months. 

Merchandise  Purchased. 

When  merchandise  arrives,  it  is  cared  for  as  described  under  "Pur- 
chase Records"  and  when  the  total  cost  and  selling  values  of  the  goods  on 
any  invoice  have  been  figured  and  transportation  charges,  etc.,  distributed, 
the  selling  values  are  entered  on  Form  17,  shown  in  Fig.  20.  Two  copies 
of  this  form  are  used  every  day,  one  for  cost  prices  and  one  for  selling 
prices.  Each  invoice  requires  but  one  line  on  each  of  these  forms,  so  one 
form  is  ordinarily  ample  for  a  day's  stock  transactions.  In  the  left  hand 
column  is  entered  the  number  of  the  invoice  and  in  the  Dr.  column  per- 
taining to  each  department  is  entered  the  selling  price  of  all  articles  which 
are  covered  by  that  particular  invoice.  The  sum  of  all  the  values  entered 
in  the  Dr.  columns  on  any  one  line  should  therefore  equal  the  selling  price 
of  all  articles  covered  by  the  invoice  whose  number  appears  at  the  left. 

This  same  procedure  is  followed  with  all  invoices'  received,  and  there- 
fore covers  all  merchandise  transactions.  It  will  be  noted  that  there  are 
no  "Requisitions",  properly  so-called,  in  cases  like  this  where  the  incoming 
goods  are  sent  direct  to  a  department.  The  department  head  receipts  for 
such  goods  by  simply  placing  his  name  or  initials  in  the  right  hand  column 
of  the  retained  copy  of  our  original  order.  (See  Purchase  Records.) 
This  simplified  way  of  handling  such  a  transaction  saves  an  enormous 
amount  of  unnecessary  work,  and  is  just  as  sound  as  the  Requisition 
System. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


55 


Transfers  Between  Departments. 

This    proposition    has 
previously      been      men- 
tioned,   but    we    purpose 
now    to    show    in    detail 
how    such    a   transaction 
is  effected.     Let  us  sup- 
pose that  the  lunch  room 
needs   a   ham,   and   it   is 
desired  to  purchase  same 
from  the  market  depart- 
ment.     Assume    further 
that  the  selling  price  of 
this  ham  is  $3.25.     It  is 
evident     that     we     must 
first    credit    the    market 
with  this  amount.     This 
aT  is   done   by   means   of   a 
«  "turn-in-card".  Form  12, 
"-  shown   in   Fig.   21.     The 
g  card     is     filled     out     as 
•g  shown,  (the  name  of  the 
23  article  is   not   essential), 
"^  is    signed    by    the    stock 
3*  clerk  and  is  given  to  the 
|  head  of  the  market   de- 
.5P  partment  as  a  credit  for 
^  the   ham,    which   is   then 
issued  to  the  lunch  room 
man  on  a  regular  requi- 
sition.     The    requisition 
cards    and    the    turn-in- 
cards  are  precisely  alike, 
except  that  the  latter  are 
printed  in  red  ink.   With 
the  exception  of  the  sig- 
nature, therefore,  Fig.  21 
is  also  a  reproduction  of 
the       requisition       upon 
which  the  ham  is  issued 
to  the  lunch  room.  These 
cards    are    of    standard 
size,  3x5  inches,  and  are 


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56 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


of  various  colors,  depending  upon  the  color  scheme  adopted  as  described 
under  "Charge  Sales".     Hence,  we  may  assume  that  the  market's  turn-in 


H 

r  i 

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£ 
a 

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a 

card  was  printed  in  red  on  a  buff  card  and  the  lunch  room's  requisition 
was  printed  in  black  on  a  salmon  colored  card/  The  cards  can  be  bought 
cheaply  with  "horizontal  ruling",  thus  cutting  down  some  of  the  bill  for 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  57 

specially  printing  the  cards.  It  costs  less  to  have  the  turn-in  cards  printed 
in  red  than  it  would  to  have  a  special  form  of  card  printed,  and  they  are 
better,  besides. 

In  issuing  the  ham  to  the  lunch  room,  the  stock  clerk  should  note  on 
the  requisition,  "Cr.  Market".  He  then  enters  the  transaction  on  Form  17 
as  shown  in  Fig.  20.  In  all  such  transfers,  the  sum  of  the  credits  on  any 
line  should,  of  course,  equal  the  sum  of  the  debits.  It  is  not  essential  to 
number  these  requisitions  and  turn-in  slips  because  the  date  stamped  at 
the  top  is  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  identify  any  particular  transaction. 
The  market  man  would  hand  in  his  credit  slip  to  the  Steward  with  his 
daily  report  of  sales.  The  stock  clerk  would  hand  in  the  requisition  (re- 
ceipted by  the  lunch  room  man)  with  his  Form  17  for  that  day. 

There  is  still  another  transaction  for  which  we  must  provide  and  that 
is  the  operation  of  returning  to  our  creditors  goods  which  we  have  re- 
ceived from  them.  This  may  arise  through  some  defect  in  the  merchandise 
or  through  some  other  cause.  Such  a  transaction  is  handled  in  exactly 
the  same  manner  as  before.  See  entry  opposite  No.  7343  in  Fig.  20  where 
we  have  credited  the  store  with  $7.60.  The  goods  were  received  on  this 
invoice  and  deduction  made  on  same  for  this  amount.  If  this  invoice  per- 
tains to  an  account  already  closed,  we  can  make  out  an  invoice  of  our 
own,  give  it  any  desired  number  and  give  the  store  credit  as  before. 

Goods  which  are  returned  to  us  by  our  customers  are  credited  to  their 
accounts  through  the  sales  records  as  before  described  and  do  nol  affect 
the  working  of  the  stock  records.  Wastage,  breakage,  etc.,  is  credited  to 
departments  by  means  of  this  same  "turn-in"  card;  so,  also,  is  discount 
given  on  goods  sold  in  quantity,  as  a  box  of  cigars,  for  example. 

Since  the  whole  operation  of  accounting  for  our  goods  on  the  basis  of 
selling  price  is  purely  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  our  stock,  and  not  for 
the  purpose  of  calculating  our  monthly  profit  and  loss  sheets,  it  is  seen 
that  it  is  necessary  to  make  out  another  copy  of  Form  17  daily,  in  order  to 
record  the  same  transfers,  issues,  etc.,  on  a  cost  price  basis.  This  will  be 
discussed  more  fully  later,  but  let  it  be  stated  here  that  this  work  is  neces- 
sitated by  the  rule  which  requires  us  to  base  o..r  statement  of  assets,  in-so- 
far  as  merchandise  is  concerned,  upon  the  cost  price  of  same.  This,  for 
the  reason  that  it  is  not  sound  practice  to  anticipate  profits.  Therefore, 
our  inventories,  when  carried  as  assets,  must  be  based  on  cost  prices,  and 
in  order  to  secure  a  true  statement  of  profits  earned,  we  must  record  the 
cost  price  of  all  merchandise  that  Las  been  purchased  during  the  month 
and  distribute  this  cost  properly  among  tl.e  departments. 


58  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

At  the  end  of  each  day's  work,  the  stock  clerk  signs  his  Form  17  for 
that  day  and  fastens  to  it  all  invoices,  retained  copies  of  orders  (accom- 
plished as  previously  described)  and  requisitions  that  are  entered  on  said 
Form  17.  These  papers  are  really  vouchers  to  this  report  and  should  re- 
main with  it  until  they  have  been  checked  against  it.  The  whole  bunch  of 
papers  is  handed  in  to  the  Steward  and  Form  17  is  checked  as  soon  as 
possible.  After  this  is  completed,  the  invoices  and  the  retained  copies  of 
our  original  orders  which  pertain  to  them  are  handled  as  described  under 
Purchase  Records;  their  function  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  stock  records 
having  ceased. 

Consolidating  Stock  Transactions. 

The  stock  record  is  composed  of  two  parts — one  relating  to  cost  prices 
and  the  other  to  selling  prices.  In  all  other  respects,  these  two  parts  are 
identical  and  are  handled  in  the  same  way.  Each  "selling"  Form  17  is 
entered  or!  a  single  line  of  the  "selling"  stock  record,  and  each  "cost"  Form 
17  is  abstracted  to  a  single  line  of  the  "cost"  stock  record.  One  page  of  the 
stock  record  (Form  27)  is  shown  in  Fig.  22.  Only  the  left  hand  page  is 
shown;  the  other  departments  are  supposed  to  be  on  a  right  hand  page, 
confronting  the  one  shown  in  the  cut.  In  cases  of  departments  where 
credit  transfers  do  not  exist,  the  CR  column  can  be  omitted,  with  a  re- 
sulting saving  in  space. 

Checking  Stock  and  Sales. 

At  the  end  of  the  month,  or  whenever  our  books  are  closed,  we  total 
each  column  on  the  adding  machine  and  enter  these  totals  on  the  next 
blank  line,  as  shown,  and  then,  when  our  inventory  is  taken,  the  value 
thereof  at  selling  price  is  computed  and  entered  just  below  these  totals  in 
the  appropriate  columns,  and  subtracted  from  them.  The  remainders,  it  is 
evident,  should  equal  the  total  sales  for  the  period  considered.  In  order 
to  compare  these  amounts,  we  now  enter  the  total  sales  for  each  depart- 
ment in  its  proper  column  and  find  the  difference  between  these  figures 
and  those  immediately  over  them,  and  enter  the  discrepancies  at  the  foot 
of  the  columns.  These  operations  are  shown  in  the  figure.  Theoretically, 
the  amounts  in  the  CR  columns  should  just  balance  the  discrepancies  in 
the  DR  columns,  but  in  actual  practice,  this  state  of  affairs  will  rarely 
occur.  The  resulting  net  discrepancies,  if  small,  are  due,  primarily,  to 
wastage,  failure  to  sell  exact  weights,  etc.  If  these  discrepancies  are  large, 
the  cause  thereof  should  be  promptly  investigated. 

It  is  easily  seen  that  this  scheme  permits  us  to  make  a  check  on  any 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


59 


o 


c/O 


department  at  any  time 
by  simply  taking  an  in- 
ventory of  that  depart- 
ment. All  other  data 
that  we  need  for  such  a 
check  are  already  avail- 
able, and,  as  it  would 
not  take  long  to  take  an 
inventory  of  a  single  de- 
partment, these  checks 
should  afford  us  a  most 
efficient  means  of  keep- 
ing track  of  our  depart- 
ments. It  should  be  un- 
necessary to  state  that 
these  check  inventories 
^  should  be  taken  without 
•53  warning,  and,  preferably, 
£  by  the  Exchange  officer 
|  himself. 

.g       If  this  system  of  han- 
£  dling  stock  is   faithfully 
X  carried   out,    one   of   the 
i*  greatest      chances      for 
S  "leakage"     in    the     Post 
to  Exchange   will   be   abso- 
"^  lutely  prohibited.     It  re- 
quires work,  but  no  more 
so    than    any    other    effi- 
cient   stock    record,    and 
the   results   are   superior 
to    those    obtained    from 
any  other  system  known 
to  the  writer.    If  any  ex- 
change employee  objects 
to    the    system    on    the 
ground  that  it  entails  too 
much  work,  it  might  be 
safely   assumed   that   his 
real  objection  lies  in  the 
system's  efficiency. 


60  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


PURCHASE  RECORDS. 

In  most  Exchanges,  the  custom  obtains  of  keeping  in  the  ledger  a 
separate  account  for  each  creditor,  i.  e.,  each  person  or  firm  from  whom 
goods  are  purchased.  This  entails  an  enormous  amount  of  work,  and  as 
this  work  can  be  done  by  none  but  an  efficient  employee,  it  also  entails  a 
considerable  unnecessary  expense.  In  the  system  to  be  described,  this 
work  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  while  each  of  our  creditors  has  his 
ledger  account,  this  account  is  kept  in  such  form  as  to  require  no  duplica- 
tion of  our  records,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  tell  us  at  any  time  exactly 
how  we  stand  with  each  of  our  creditors. 

Purchase  Orders. 

Let  us  start  with  the  process  of  ordering  our  merchandise.  This  is 
done  on  Form  15,  shown  in  Fig.  23.  By  means  of  carbon  paper,  a  dupli- 
cate of  our  order  is  entered  on  Form  28,  shown  in  Fig.  24.  The  original 
goes  to  our  creditor  as  an  order;  these  orders  are  numbered  consecutively 
throughout  the  year,  or  even  over  a  longer  space  of  time,  should  it  be 
found  desirable.  Form  28  goes  to  the  Receiving  Clerk  and  is  held  by  him 
on  a  Shannon  file  until  the  goods  arrive.  He  then  checks  the  goods 
•against  this  form  and  issues  them  as  described  under  "Stock  Records".  A 
variation  of  this  method,  known  as  the  "blind  tally",  is  worked  by  making 
out  a  triplicate  copy  on  Form  28,  this  copy  to  have  the  "quantity"  column 
blank,  which  is  easily  effected  by  slipping  a  piece  of  paper  above  it  to 
receive  the  carbon  record  which  would  otherwise  be  printed  in  that  column. 
The  receiving  clerk  then  has  no  idea  of  the  quantities  ordered  and  fills  in 
the  "quantity"  column  himself.  A  comparison  of  this  with  the  duplicate 
(kept  locked  up  in  the  office)  quickly  shows  us  whether  we  received  all  of 
our  goods.  This  system  has  broken  up  some  very  obscure  practices.  In 
either  system,  it  should  be  noted  that  we  need  not  await  the  arrival  of  the 
invoice,  unless  it  is  desired  to  do  so,  before  issuing  goods  to  departments. 
The  columns  at  the  right  of  Form  28  are  for  convenience  in  calculating 
selling  prices,  etc. 

As  previously  noted,  the  receiving  clerk  (or  stock  clerk,  whoever 
handles  this  work)  hands  in  at  the  close  of  business  each  day,  two  copies 
of  Form  17,  one  covering  the  selling  price  of  all  stock  which  has  arrived 
or  been  transferred  during  the  day,  and  the  other  covering  the  cost  price  of 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


61 


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*Ll*i 

§  S^  of* 

""il^S 
ftj-sf  fr 
,1§  111 
K»S« 


23 
t 


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f  shee 
inches 


Fi 
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62 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


1  »-g-S  8 
'i  S-Jrj  3. 

-  &  - 


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CHECKED 

ENTERED 

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QUANTITY 

POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  63 

same.  Attached  to  these  forms  are  all  requisitions  and  receiving  records 
(Form  28)  covered  by  these  Forms  17.  The  Steward  sees  that  each  re- 
ceiving record  is  correctly  calculated  and  properly  entered  on  both  copies 
of  Form  17.  (He,  also,  at  this  time,  sees  that  the  requisitions  are  properly 
entered  on  both  forms.)  The  receiving  records  are  then  filed  in  a  Shan- 
non drawer  to  await  the  arrival  of  invoices  or  for  comparison  with  them 
if  they  have  already  arrived.  For  convenience,  they  are  filed  behind 
alphabetical  guides  according  to  the  names  of  our  creditors.  When  the 
invoices  arrive,  they  are  filed  in  the  same  manner  and  in  the  same  drawer. 
They  would,  therefore,  naturally  tend  to  find  each  other. 

Before  the  receiving  record  is  sent  from  the  office  to  the  receiving 
clerk  in  the  first  place,  the  order  is  entered  in  our  Purchase  Record,  which, 
as  its  name  indicates,  is  a  chronological  record  of  all  our  purchases  of 
merchandise  of  whatever  sort.  Hire  of  services,  of  course,  is  not  entered 
in  this  record. 


64 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


Purchase  Record. 


1 



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There    are    various 
forms    in    use    for    Pur- 
chase    Records,     invoice 
Records,      etc..      and      a 
study  of  several  of  them 
leads  us  to  advocate  the 
use   of   Form   29,   shown 
in    Fig.   25   as   being   the 
best  suited   to  the  work 
in    hand.      This    is    spe- 
cially  ruled   and   printed 
and     like     most    of     the 
other  forms  described  is 
as     well     suited     to    the 
needs    of    a    small     ex- 
change   as    a   large    one. 
^  They     will     cost     about 
•Jj  $12.00  per  thousand  and 
.5  a  good  substantial  binder 
T?  for  them  will  cost  from 
%  $2.75    to   $11.00,    depend- 
«  ing  upon   the   quality  of 
— '  the  binding.     One  and  a 
£5  quarter      inch      back      is 
2  large     enough     for     our 
^purpose;    the   sheets   are 
^  10J4  x  wy2     inches,     the 
former  being  the  binding 
side. 

When  our  order  is 
first  made  out,  we  enter 
in  the  proper  column  of 
the  purchase  record,  the 
name  of  the  firm  on 
whom  the  order  is 
drawn.  This  is  the  only 
entry  made  at  this  time, 
and  the  retained  copy  of 
the  order  (the  receiving 
record)  is  then  sent  to 
the  receiving  clerk. 
When  the  invoices  ar- 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  65 


INV.  No. 
REC'D 


CHECKED 
CARDED_ 
PAID 


DISCOUNTED_ 
VOUCHER  No. 


rive,  they  are  stamped  as  shown  in 
Fig.  26,  the  1st  and  2d  lines  of  this 
stamp  are  filled  in,  their  date  is  en- 
tered in  the  left  hand  columns  of  the 
purchase  record  and  the  invoices  are 
then  filed  as  before  described.  In 
this  way,  the  office  keeps  track  of  how 
fast  the  stock  is  arriving,  because  the 
number  of  firm  names  entered  on  the 
purchase  record  will  show  us  the 
number  of  outstanding  orders,  and 

Figure  26  the  number  of  dated  entries  will  show 

us  the  number  of  invoices  that  have  arrived  which  have  not  yet 
been  checked  up  by  the  Steward  (usually  because  the  goods  have  not 
arrived).  When  the  goods  arrive,  whether  they  follow  or  precede  their 
invoices,  and  the  receiving  clerk  has  checked  them  into  stock  and  returned 
Form  28  to  the  office,  the  purchase  price  is  entered  in  the  Purchase-Credit 
column  shown.  This  purchase  price  disregards  our  cash  discount,  which 
is  cared  for  in  the  cash  book.  However,  if  there  is  any  allowance  due  us 
for  returning  all  or  a  part  of  the  goods  on  any  invoice,  the  amount  of  such 
rebate  is  entered  in  the  Debit-Purchase  column.  This  is  the  only  use  to 
which  this  column  is  put. 

Let  us  suppose  that  we  are  now  ready  to  pay  a  bunch  of  invoices. 
Proceed  as  follows  : — 

1.  Take  the  invoice  file,  and,  starting  with  the  letter  "A",  go  through 
the  file,  taking  the  accomplished  invoices  as  you  come  .to  them.     All  those 
relating  to  any  one  firm  should  be  found  together,  as  before  mentioned, 
thus  saving  much  time  at  this  stage. 

2.  Having  your  invoices,   make  out  a  voucher    (Form  14,   Fig.  27) 
for  each  firm  or  creditor  concerned,  entering  thereon  all  invoices  relating 
to  that  firm.     If  the  buying  is  done  properly,  there  should  be  plenty  of 
room  on  the  voucher  for  these  invoices.     (In  case  of  a  firm  from  whom 
we  make  almost  daily  purchases,  we  hold  the  invoices  and  make  one  pay- 
ment, at  the  end  of  the  month.) 

3.  As  you  go  along,  have  a  dating  stamp  handy  and  stamp  the  date 
on  each  invoice  as  you  make  out  the  corresponding  voucher.     If  the  in- 
voice is  discounted,  stamp  the  date  in  the  "Discounted"  space;  if  there  is 
no  discount,  stamp  the  date  opposite  the  word  PAID   (see  Fig.  26).     At 
the  same  time,  enter  the  voucher  number   (which  may,  and  probably  will 
differ  from  the  invoice  number)    in  blue  pencil  on  the  proper  space  of 
this  same  stamped  impression. 


66 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


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POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  67 

4.  When  all  the  invoices  are  finished,  take  the  vouchers,  and,  starting 
with  the  top  one,  find  where  each  invoice  is  entered  in  the  purchase  record 
and  stamp  the  date  in  the  PAID  column  opposite  each  entry.     Jhese  places 
are  easily  found  by  reading  the  invoice  numbers  entered  on  the  vouchers. 

5.  While  you  are  stamping  these  dates,  compare,  as  you  go  along,  the 
amount  of  the  invoices  as  entered  on  the  vouchers,  with  the  amounts  en- 
tered in  the  purchase  record. 

6.  Now  take  the  vouchers  and  enter  them  in  the  Cash  Book  on  the 
right  or  credit  side.     In  the  "net  cash"  and  "creditors"  columns  should  be 
entered  the  exact  amounts  actually  paid,  in  the  Discount  column  should  be 
entered  the  amount  of  discount  allowed.     Discount   is  always   shown   in 
the  cash  book  and  on  the  vouchers  in  red  ink,  to  avoid  confusion  with 
credits,  which  should  be  shown  in  black. 

7.  After  the  cash  book  has  been  posted,  the  proper  checks  are  made 
out,    ready    for    the   signature   of    the    Exchange    Officer.     They    and    the 
vouchers  are  then  mailed  to  the  various  creditors. 

8.  The  paid   invoices  are  then  placed  in  a  Shannon  file  drawer  by 
themselves  where  they  can  be  consulted  easily.     They  form  a  complete  file 
of  sub- vouchers  to  the  cash  account  for  the  month.     They  should  never  be 
mailed  to  our  creditors  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  receipted;  it  takes 
too  much  energy  and  time  to  get  them  back.     In  case  our  creditor  fails 
to  return  our  voucher,  we  can  still  prove  payment,  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt,  by  producing  the  canceled  check  (which  he  must  release  sooner  or 
later)   and  the  original  invoice  exactly  corresponding  to  it  in  value.     One 
authority  goes  so  far  as  to  say, — "If  a  check  bears  no  evidence  as  to  its 
purpose  but  can  readily  be  identified  with  a  particular  bill  or  invoice,  it 
still  is  a  better  voucher  than  a  receipted  bill,     *****     a  mere  re_ 
ceipt  for  so  much  money,  which  can  readily  be  forged,  is  poor  evidence  of 
a  legitimate  payment,  but  a  paid  check,  properly  endorsed  and  otherwise 
identified  as  representing  a  definite  liability,  is  pretty  fair  proof  that  the 
money  has  reached  the  creditors."     (P.  49,  Vol.  6,  Enc.  Commerce  and  Ac- 
counting.) 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  sometimes  experience  considerable  difficulty 
in  getting  even  the  vouchers  back  from  our  creditors.  Lieut.  Schudt,  at 
the  Fort  Levett  Exchange,  hit  upon  a  scheme  which  tends  to  lessen  this 
difficulty.  This  is,  simply  to  have  the  vouchers  printed  on  a  card  of  suit- 
able weight;  the  reverse  of  each  card  being  printed  in  the  form  of  a  self- 
addressed  penalty  post  card.  Our  creditor,  after  dating  and  receipting 
the  voucher,  simply  drops  it  into  the  mail  box  without  the  additional 
trouble  of  mailing  it  in  an  envelope, 


68  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

The  Voucher  Check  System. 

A  much  more  efficient  system  than  that  just  described,  one  which  we 
hope  will  some  day  be  prescribed  by  regulations,  is  the  "voucher  check" 
system.  This  system  is  rapidly  forcing  its  way  to  the  front  through  the 
merits  of  its- sheer  efficiency,  and  is  now  in  force  in  the  business  adminis- 
tration of  many  large  concerns,  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  for  example. 
The  system  is  founded  on  the  indisputable  proof  of  payment  that  is  af- 
forded by  an  endorsed  and  paid  check.  As  one  eminent  authority  on 
auditing,  has  said, — "If  a  check  bears  on  its  face  or  back  any  indication 
of  its  purpose,  it  is  the  best  receipt  for  money  paid  that  can  be  secured". 

The  voucher  check  system  does  away  with  separate  "vouchers",  as  we 
in  the  Army  are  accustomed  to  think  of  them ;  the  checks  themselves  are 
our  vouchers.  The  checks  are  somewhat  different  from  the  usual  type,  as 
they  bear  on  their  face  a  statement  of  the  invoices  they  pay.  In  fact,  they 
contain  substantially  the  same  matter  as  is  shown  on  our  regular  voucher. 
Form  30,  Fig.  28,  shows  a  voucher  check  that  would  be  entirely  suited  to 
our  use.  It  may  be  unnecessary  to  explain,  the  dates,  numbers  and  amounts 
of  the  invoices  are  entered  at  the  right  in  the  proper  spaces,  the  amounts 
are  totaled,  rebates,  allowances,  etc.,  are  deducted,  the  discount  applied  to 
the  remainder  and  the  check  proper  (left  hand  part)  made  out  accordingly. 
Form  30a,  shown  in  the  same  figure,  is  the  carbon  copy,  the  original  being 
made  out  in  indelible  pencil.  The  right  hand  or  coupon  part  of  this  duplicate 
is  torn  off,  pinned  to  and  mailed  with  the  original  check.  It  gives  our 
creditor  a  memo  of  the  payment,  rendering  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  hold 
the  check  until  he  can  make  a  special  note  of  the  payment,  thus  helping  him 
out  and  at  the  same  time  expediting  the  process  of  cashing  in  our  check. 
The  left  hand  part  of  Form  30a  remains  in  the  check  book  and  p.-r forms 
the  same  function  as  the  regulation  check  stub.  It  will  be  noted  that  we 
thus  save  the  labor  usually  expended  in  rilling  out  our  stubs  and  in  addi- 
tion, we  are  not  liable  to  accidentally  forget  to  fill  out  the  stubs  altogether, 
as  sometimes  happens  with  the  regular  style  of  check  book. 

The  form  and  size  of  these  voucher  checks  lend  themselves  very  read- 
ily to  manufacture  in  the  same  "make-up"  as  certain  kinds  of  sales  books, 
but  the  ordinary  style  of  duplicating  book  is  probably  just  as  good  as  the 
more  elaborate  kinds.  The  checks  should  be  printed  three  to  the  page  and 
care  should  be  taken  that  the  duplicate  forms  are  "in  register"  with  the 
originals,  otherwise,  the  carbon  copy  data  will  not  appear  opposite  the 
proper  notations. 

When  these  voucher  checks  are  returned  to  us  by  our  banker,  we  file 
them  in  a  check  filing  drawer,  equipped  with  sets  of  monthly  tabbed 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


69 


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following  items 

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70  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

guides,  according  to  the  voucher  numbers,  thus  forming  the  voucher  record 
for  our  cash  disbursements. 

It  is  hard  to  find  a  weak  spot  in  the  check  voucher  system,  but  some 
inspectors  seems  to  object  to  it,  so,  until  it  is  specifically  authorized  by  the 
War  Department,  the  inexperienced  Exchange  Officer  would  do  well  to 
stick  to  the  system  previously  described. 

To  revert  to  our  purchase  record  sheets  :  there  is  no  necessity  for 
noting  thereon  the  amount  paid  on  each  invoice  or  the  discount  on  same, 
as  is  sometimes  done.  This  information  will  be  shown  in  the  cash  book, 
and  data  should  not  be  repeated  unnecessarily.  The  remaining  two  col- 
umns (Balances)  are  used  only  when  closing  the  books.  Whenever  this 
is  done,  the  balance  on  each  order  is  brought  out  to  the  proper  column,  the 
amount  we  owe  being  entered  in  the  credit  side  of  this  column,  and  the 
amount  due  us  being  entered  on  the  debit  side.  The  total  of  the  credit 
side  of  the  Purchase  column  is  then  posted  as  a  lump  sum  to  the  credit 
side  of  the  "Bills  Payable  Merchandise"  account  on  the  general  ledger, 
and  the  total  of  the  debit  side  is  posted  to  the  debit  side  of  the  same  ac- 
count. Ordinarily,  there  will  be  no  such  debit  entries.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  net  balance  of  the  Purchase  Record  and  of  the  above  account  should 
equal  the  difference  between  the  total  purchases  and  the  sum  of  the  totals 
shown  in  the  "Creditors"  and  the  "Discounts"  columns  in  the  cash  book. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  71 


CASH  DISBURSEMENTS. 

The  right  or  credit  side  of  the  cash  book  is,  in  general,  of  the  same 
form  as  the  debit  side.  See  Fig.  11.  As  all  distribution  of  merchandise  to 
the  various  departments  is  made  through  the  stock  records,  there  is  no 
necessity  of  trying  to  duplicate  this  information  on  the  pages  of  the  cash 
book.  We,  therefore,  lump  all  merchandise  payments  under  the  heading 
"Creditors"  and  reserve  a  column  for  such  payments  only.  In  a  similar 
manner,  all  payments  for  services  rendered  in  the  various  departments 
could  be  entered  under  a  heading,  "Labor",  and  the  proper  distribution  or 
pro-rata  share  of  each  department  could  be  shown  on  the  receipted  pay 
roll,  as  explained  hereafter. 

Other  columns  that  will  be  needed  are : — Maintenance,  Fixtures,  In- 
terest and  Discount,  Appropriations,  and  Expense.  All  disbursements 
which  can  not  be  placed  in  one  of  the  other  columns  should  be  entered 
under  Interest  and  Discount.  Under  Appropriations,  enter  all  disburse- 
ments voted  by  the  Exchange  Council  for  Athletics,  Dividends,  Sick  in 
Hospital,  etc.  Under  Fixtures  should  go  all  expenditures  for  permanent 
equipment  (new)  of  the  Exchange,  and  under  Maintenance,  all  money 
spent  for  repairs,  replacing  of  old  equipment  by  new,  and  the  like.  In  the 
Expense  Column  we  carry  such  items  as  wastage,  breakage,  telephone  and 
telegraph  bills,  fuel,  light,  insurance,  printing  and  stationery,  and  such 
expendable  supplies  as  twine,  paper,  etc.,  as  are  used  in  carrying  on  the 
business.  When  the  Exchange  Officer  or  authorized  agent  makes  a  pur- 
chasing trip  on  purely  Exchange  business,  his  authorized  expenses  should 
be  entered  in  this  column.  Exchange  Councils  differ  in  their  interpreta- 
tions of  what  such  expenses  should  be,  and  the  Exchange  Officer  should 
have  it  recorded  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Council  that  such  allowances  of 
expenses  are  authorized. 

To  sum  up  : — the  columns  of  the  credit  side  of  the  cash  book,  reading 
from  left  to  right  are  as  follows  : — Date ;  Description  of  item  entered, 
giving  name  of  creditor  and  a  clue  to  the  articles  on  the  invoices ;  Voucher 
No.;  Check  No. ;  Net  Cash;  Discount;  Creditors  (or  Merchandise); 
Labor;  Appropriations;  Fixtures;  Interest  and  Discount;  Expense;  Sun- 
dries, and  perhaps,  one  or  two  spare  columns. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  or  when  the  books  are  closed,  the  totals  of 
the  various  columns  are  posted  to  the  debit  side  of  the  General  Ledger  as 
follows : — 


72 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


Creditors  posted  to  Bills  Payable,  Mdse. 

Interest  and  Discount  to  Interest  and  Discount. 

Discount  to  Interest  and  Discount. 

Fixtures  to  Fixtures  (Exchange  or  Laundry,  as  the  case  may  be). 

The  items  entered  in  the  Expense  column  must  be  distributed,  such 
items  as  cannot  properly  be  posted  to  the  account  of  any  of  the  depart- 
ments must  be  posted  to  the  "General  Expense"  account  in  the  General 
Ledger.  The  same  rule  applies  to  Labor  and  to  Sundries.  The  items  in 
the  Appropriations  column  must  also  be  distributed  among  the  proper 
ledger  accounts,  such  as  Athletics,  Dividends,  Sick  in  Hospital,  etc.,  as  the 
case  may  be. 

THE  LEDGER. 

General. 

The  ledger  is  the  book  which  shows  us  the  status  of  every  part  of  our 
business.  It  is  the  most  important  book  that  we 'keep,  and,  consequently,  it 
should  be  kept  with  great  care.  Every  transaction,  no  matter  how  small, 
sooner  or  later  finds  its  way  to  the  ledger,  although  it  will  not  be  given  the 
dignity  of  a  line  to  itself.  The  ledger  is,  of  course,  kept  on  the  double 
entry  system. 

Make-up. 

There  are  several  stock  forms  for  ledger  sheets,  that  shown  as  Form 


Figure  30,  (Reduced  iu  size) 

30,  in  Fig.  30,  being  one  of  the  best,  as  the  center  balance  column  saves 
much  space.  Perhaps  the  most  convenient  size  is  11^4  x  H%  inches,  which 
gives  about  the  right  amount  of  room  in  all  columns.  These  sheets, 
printed  and  ruled  as  shown,  cost  $12.00  per  thousand,  retail.  Leather 
tabbed  indices  cost  $1.65  per  set  and  a  high  grade  ledger  binder  costs  $12.00, 
although  a  cheaper  type,  known  as  a  "transfer"  can  be  obtained  for  a  price 
as  low  as  $2.75,  but  it  would  not  give  the  service  and  satisfaction  of  the 
regular  type  of  ledger.  In  our  system,  a  ledger  with  a  \l/\  inch  back 
should  prove  of  ample  size. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  73 

Live  accounts  only  should  be  kept  in  the  ledger;  as  soon  as  an  account 
has  been  closed  out,  the  pages  containing  same  should  be  taken  out  and 
placed  in  a  ledger  transfer  binder.  The  same  procedure  should  be  fol- 
lowed with  the  filled  pages  of  live  accounts  just  as  soon  as  there  becomes 
little  chance  of  their  being  consulted  frequently. 

Ledger  Accounts. 

As  has  been  previously  described,  otir  method  of  handling  our  charge 
accounts  has  rendered  it  unnecessary  for  us  to  keep  a  private  ledger  ac- 
count with  each  of  our  charge  customers.  To  do  so  would  be  merely 'to 
repeat  information  which  we  already  possess.  Also,  our  Purchase  Record 
has  obviated  the  necessity  of  a  separate  ledger  account  with  each  of  our 
creditors,  for  the  same  reason. 

Having  no  private  ledger  accounts,  it  follows  that  this  book  then 
becomes  a  "General  Ledger",  holding  only  general  accounts,  such  as  Bills 
Payable,  etc. 

Some  of  our  general  accounts  should  be  sub-divided  in  order  to  give 
us  a  better  idea  of  what  the  business  is  doing.  Take  the  Expense  account, 
for  example.  It  is  usually  desirable  to  classify  our  expenses  as  nearly  as 
possible  under  the  following  headings  : — 

Wages, 

Fuel  and  Lights, 

Insurance, 

Freight  and  Express  on  out-going  goods, 

Printing  and  Stationery, 

Telephone  and  Telegraph, 

Office,  including  expendable  supplies  used  and  not  distributed  to  de- 
partments. 

Another  example  is  Bills  Payable,  which  is  divided  into  Charge  Accounts, 
Credit  Coupons,  Enlisted  Men's  Laundry,  etc.,  as  circumstances  dictate. 

A  complete  list  of  the  accounts  in  our  ledger  should  run  about  as 
follows  : — 

1.  Post   Exchange    (Synonyms  :— Present   Worth,    Surplus,   Net   Worth, 

etc.). 

2.  Bills  Receivable,  Notes.     (Entrance  fees  of  incoming  organizations.) 

3.  Bills  Receivable,  Charge  Accounts. 

4.  Bills  Receivable,  Credit  Coupons. 

5.  Bills  Receivable,  Enlisted  Men's  Laundry. 

6.  Check  Account.      (Outstanding  Coupons.) 


74  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

7.  Bills  Payable,  Mdse.     (Or  Creditors.) 

8.  Exchange  Building.     (If  not  a  Government  building.) 

9.  Laundry  Building.      (If  owned  by  the  Exchange.) 

10.  Exchange  Fixtures. 

11.  Laundry  Fixtures.      (Including  all  machinery,  tools,  etc.) 

12.  Laundry.     (A  departmental  account.) 

13.  Store.     (Same.     There  should   lie  an   account   for  each   department.) 

14.  Interest  and  Discount. 

15.  Insurance. 

16.  Fuel  and  Lights. 

17.  Freight  and  Express. 

18.  Printing  and  Stationery. 

19.  Telephone  and  Telegraph. 

20.  General  Expense. 

21.  Depreciation.      (If  taken  frequently.) 

22.  Lost  Accounts. 

23.  Athletics. 

24.  Dividends. 

25.  Sick  in  Hospital. 

26.  Regimental  Fund. 

27.  Wages. 

28.  Profit  and  Loss.     (Or  Loss  and  Gain.) 

29.  Maintenance. 

Posting  the  Ledger. 

It  has  been  noticed  that  our  Ledger  is  used  but  once  a  month  or  when- 
ever our  books  are  closed.  At  this  time,  each  account  in  the  ledger  is 
brought  down  to  date  by  entering  the  results  obtained  by  summarizing  the 
accounts  contained  in  the  subsidiary  books.  This  operation  is  called 
"posting"  and  will  be  discussed  with  reference  to  each  of  the  foregoing 
accounts.  It  will  be  assumed,  in  each  case,  that  the  balance  from  the 
previous  month  has  been  brought  down  correctly. 

It  will  be  of  great  assistance  to  remember  that  any  account  in  the 
General  Ledger  represents  one  of  the  following: — 

1.  An  asset;    (Resource).  3.     A  Loss. 

2.  A  liability.  4.     A  Profit  or  Gain. 

a.  Every  account  showing  a  debit  balance  is  either  an  asset  or  a  loss ; 
a  "Personal"  account  showing  a  debit  balance  is  an  asset,  an  "expense" 
account  showing  a  debit  balance  is  a  loss. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  75 

b.  Every  account  showing  a  credit  balance  is  either  a  liability  or  a 
profit;  a  "personal"  account  showing  a  credit  balance  is  a  liability  (some- 
thing we  owe),  any  sales  account  showing  a  credit  balance  is  a  profit. 

1.  Post  Exchange  Account.     Another  name  for  this  account  is  "Net 
Worth",  or,  if  the  Exchange  is  out  of  debt,  "Surplus".     It  is  important 
that  the  status  of  this  account  be  shown  on  every  monthly  statement  ex- 
hibited to  the   Exchange  Council.     It  is   debited   at   the  beginning  of  the 
month  with  the  net  worth  of  the  Exchange  on  that  date.     Credit  it  with 
such  decreases  and  debit  it  with  such  increases  as  will  be  shown  on  the 
"Surplus  and  Adjustment   Schedule"  on    Form  152   and   discussed   in  con- 
nection therewith. 

2.  Bills  Receivable,  Notes.     Debit  this  account  for  the  amount  owed 
by  any  organization  to  the  Exchange  for  Entrance  fees,  etc.,  and  credit  it 
via    the    cash    book    with    the    amount    of    payments    received    from    such 
organizations. 

3.  Bills  Receivable,  Charge  Accounts.     Debit  this  account,  as  before 
described,  with  the  total  amount  of  charge  sales  made  during  the  month, 
which  amount  is  obtained  from  the  Charge  Accounts  book.     Credit  this 
account  with  the  total  of  the  "Customers"  column  on  the  debit  side  of  the 
cash  book  and  also  with  the  total  of  the  "Credit"  column  in  the  Charge 
Accounts  book. 

4.  Bills  Receivable,  Credit  Coupons.    This  account  has  been  exhaus-' 
tively  discussed  under  "Coupons". 

5.  Bills  Receivable,  Enlisted  Men's  Laundry.    Debit  this  account  at 
the  end  of  the  month  with  the  gross  amount  of  laundry  bills  contracted  by 
enlisted  men  during  the  month.     Credit  it  with  the  total  of  the  cash  book 
(debit)    column  in  which  are  entered  the  payments  by  enlisted  men   for 
laundry  work  done.     Also  credit  this  account  with  whatever  credits  have 
been   allowed    for   overcharges,   damages,   etc.,   these  amounts   also   being 
charged  (debited)  against  the  Laundry  account. 

6.  Check  Account.     See  note  under  paragraph  4  above. 

7.  Bills  Payable,  Merchandise.     Debit  this  account  with  balance  due 
creditors  on  1st  of  the  month  and  with  Cr.  Purchase  column  of  Purchase 
Record.     Credit   it  -with   amount   of   creditors   column   in  cash  book,   and 
with  total  of  Dr.  Purchase  column  of  Purchase  Record. 

8.  Exchange  Building.     If  built  and  owned  by  the  Government,  this 
item  is  not  an  asset  of  the  Exchange.     If  the  building  belongs  to  the  Ex- 
change, we  debit  this  account  with  all  amounts  spent  upon  it  for  additions 


76  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

of  any  kind,  but  not  for  repairs,  renewals,  painting,  etc.  Credit  this  ac- 
count with  all  depreciation  voted  by  the  Post  Exchange  Council,  and  debit 
this  amount  against  the  Depreciation  Account. 

9.  Laundry  Building.     Same  as  preceding. 

10.  Exchange  Fixtures.     Debit  this   account  through   the  cash   book 
with  the  amount  of  all  new  fixtures  purchased ;  credit  it  with  the  amount 
of  depreciation  voted  by  the  Exchange  Council,  as  before  explained,  also, 
with  the  book   value  of  all   fixtures   scrapped   or  otherwise   disposed   of. 
When  an  article  is  merely  replaced  by  a  newly  purchased  one,  it  is  proper 
to  make  no  change   in  the   value   of   our   fixtures,   but   charge   the   whole 
purchase  price  against  maintenance.     The  same  applies  to  cost  of  repairs. 

11.  Laundry  Fixtures.     Same  as  preceding. 

12.  Laundry.     This    is    a    live    account    against    which    are    charged 
(debited)  : — 

(a)  The  total  of  the  Debit  Laundry  column  in  the  Cost  Price 
Stock  Record,  (Form  13),  also,  the  value  of  inventory  at  1st 
of  month. 

(b)  The  total  cost  of  labor  incurred  by  that  department. 

(c)  Any    CASH    REIMBURSEMENTS    that    may    have    been 
paid  to  customers. 

(d)  Such  items  of  Freight,  Expense,  Maintenance,  Board,  etc., 
as  may  have  been  paid  during  the  month  on  account  of  the 
Laundry. 

(c)     Any  credits  that  may  be  allowed  for  damages,  etc.     (From 

Charge  Accts.) 
This  account  is  credited  with  : — 

(a)  The  total  of  the  Laundry  columns  in  the  Charge  Accounts 
Book. 

(b)  The  total  of  the  Laundry  columns  pertaining  to  the  current 
month  on  our  paytable  collection  sheets  (Form  25). 

(c)  The  total  shown  in  the  Credit  Laundry  column  of  Form  13 

(d)  The  total  of  all  sales  not  accounted  for  under  (a)  and  (b) 
above. 

(c)  Inventory  at  last  of  month. 

The  balance,  showing  gross  loss  or  gain,  is  transferred  to  the  Profit  and 
Loss  Account. 

13.  Store.     This    and    all    other    departmental    accounts    should    be 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  77 

handled  in  the  manner  described  in  the  preceding  paragraph  except  they 
should  receive  credit  for  all  coupon  and  cash  sales  made  during  the  month. 

14.  Interest  and  Discount.     Credit  this  account  with  the  total  of  the 
Discount  column  on  the  credit  side  of  the  cash  book;  this  anomaly  being 
only  apparent,  not  real.     Credit,  also,  the  total  of  the  Interest  and  Discount 
column  on  the  debit  side  of  the  cash  book  and  debit  the  total  of  the  Interest 
and  Discount  column  found  on  the  credit  side  of  the  cash  book. 

15.  Insurance.     Debit  this  account,  through  the  cash  book,  with  all 
premiums  paid  out,  at  the  time  they  are  paid.     Credit  this  account  monthly 
with  the  monthly  share  of  such  premium  or  premiums,  and  debit  them 
against  Post  Exchange.  The  effect  of  this  method  is  to  show  the  unexpired 
policies  as  assets,  as  they  should  be.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that  an  unex- 
pired policy  is  an  asset,  nor  is  there  any  question  about  the  propriety  of 
showing   the   value   of   this    asset   by    deducting   the    appropriate    amount 
monthly.     The  practice  of  some  exchanges  of  writing  such  assets  off  the 
books  immediately  upon  payment  of  premiums  is  not  sound. _ 

16.  Fuel  and  Lights.     Debit  this  account  through  the  cash  book  with 
all  amounts  paid  out   for  these  items,  provided  they  cannot  be  properly 
apportioned  to  the  various  departments. 

17.  Freight  and  Express.     Same   as  preceding,  except  that  all  such 
charges  on  incoming  merchandise  should  be  charged  to  the  goods  in  ques- 
tion, just  as  if  they  cost  us  that  much  more.     "Out"   freight,   etc.,   is   a 
legitimate  charge  against  this  account. 

18.  Printing  and  Stationery.     Same  remarks  as  under  16. 

19.  Telephone  and  Telegraph.     Same  as  under  16. 

20.  General  Expense.     Debit  this  account  with  all  items  of  expense 
that  cannot  properly  be  placed  under  one  of  the  other  expense  accounts. 

21.  Depreciation.     Debit  this  account  with  the  total  amount  of  de- 
preciation voted  by  the  Council,  and  as  this  entails  a  corresponding  credit 
elsewhere  in  the  ledger,  the  respective  accounts  affected  must  be  credited  to 
a  corresponding  amount.     When  the  books  are  closed,  the  balance  of  this 
account  is  transferred  to  Profit  and  Loss  by  crediting  Depreciation  and 
debiting  the  latter,  account.     This  Depreciation  account  can  be  eliminated 
entirely,  if  desired,  by  crediting  Exchange  Fixtures  or  what  not  with  the 
amount  of  depreciation  decreed  by  the  Council  and  debiting  this  amount 
straight  against  Post  Exchange.     This  is  the  usual  method. 

22.  Lost  Accounts.     Debit  this  account  with  all  bad  debts  which  we 
have  decided  we  cannot  collect.     This,  of  course,  necessitates  a  correspond- 


78  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

ing  credit  entry  in  some  other  account,  such  as  Bills  Receivable  Credit 
Coupons  or  Charge  Accounts,  etc.,  as  the  case  may  be.  When  the  books 
are  closed,  this  account  is  balanced  and  transferred  to  Profit  and  Loss,  as 
explained  in  21.  Tf  any  of  these  accounts  are  afterwards  collected,  we 
must  credit  this  account,  via  the  cash  book,  with  the  proper  amounts. 

23.  Athletics.     Credit  this  account  with  all  amounts  voted  by  the  Ex- 
change Council  for  the  support  of  athletics  and  charge  or  debit  the  same 
amount  against  Post  Exchange   (Account  No.  1,  above).     At  the  end  of 
each  month,  pick  out  of  the  Appropriations  column  on  the  credit  side  of 
the  cash  book,  all  amounts  which  were  spent  for  athletics  during  the  month 
and  debit  them  to  this  account.     The  credit  balance  of  this  account  is  a 
liability  against  the  Exchange. 

24.  Dividends.     Credit  this  account  with  the  amount  of  dividends  de- 
clared by  the  Council  and  debit  the  same  amount  against  Post  Exchange 
account.     Debit  this  account  with  all  dividends  paid  to  organizations.     If 
the  dividends  have  not  been  paid  out  by  the  end  of  the  month,  they  will 
show  up  in  this  account  as  a  credit  balance,  a  liability  against  the  Ex- 
change;   if   they   have   been   paid,    there   will   be    no   balance    left   to    this 
account. 

25.  Sick  in  Hospital.     Same  as  preceding. 

26.  Regimental  Fund.     Same  as  24. 

27.  Wages.     It  will  be  remembered  that  each  department  was  debited 
with  its  share  of  all  labor  charges  incurred  during  the  month.     These  "ac- 
crued wages"  are  credited  to  this  account  in  the  Ledger.     Debit  this  ac- 
count with  the  total  of  the  Labor  column  on  the  credit  side  of  the  cash 
book.     Any  credit  balance   remaining    (as  when  part   of  the  pay  due  an 
employee  is  held  back)  is  a  liability  against  the  Exchange. 

28.  Profit  and  Loss.     This   account   is   ordinarily   posted   only  upon 
closing  the  books.     To  this  account,  we  post  the  balances  of  all  those 
Ledger  accounts  which  show  a  profit  or  a  loss  to  the  Exchange.     These 
include  all  departmental  accounts  and  also  accounts  numbered   14  to  29, 
inclusive,  except  Nos.  15,  21,  23,  24,  25,  26  and  No.  28,  which  is  now  under 
discussion.     Remember  that  each  of  these  accounts  which  shows  a  debit 
balance  is  a  loss  and  each  that  shows  a  credit  balance  is  a  profit  or  gain. 
After  all  of  these  accounts  have  been  balanced  and  brought  into  Profit  and 
Loss,  the  latter  is  balanced  and  the  balance  transferred  to  Post  Exchange. 
Before  this  last  named  operation  is  performed,  however,  a  trial  balance 
should  be  taken,  because,  for  reasons  before  explained,  the  books  will  never 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  79 

balance  to  the  cent,  and  the  entry  of  a  small  item,  usually  "income  not 
otherwise  accounted  for,"  is  necessary  in  this  account  before  the  books  will 
balance. 

29.  Maintenance.  This  is  really  in  the  nature  of  an  expense  account 
and  we  should  debit  it  with  the  amounts  shown  on  the  credit  side  of  the 
cash  book  as  paid  out  on  this  account.  Credit  this  account  for  such  items 
as  can  be  and  are  debited  against  any  of  the  departments  (see  12  d)  ; 
credit  this  account  for  the  balance  remaining  at  the  end  of  the  month  and 
charge  same  against  Profit  and  Loss. 

Balancing  the  Ledger. 

It  has  been  stated  above,  that  all  "Expense"  accounts  are  balanced 
monthly  and  posted  to  Profit  and  Loss,  and  that  after  a  trial  balance  has 
proved  the  Ledger  to  be  in  balance,  the  balance  of  the  Profit  and  Loss 
account  is  transferred  to  the  "Post  Exchange"  account.  The  remaining 
accounts,  Nos.  1-11,  inclusive,  etc.,  represent  assets  and  liabilities  and  are 
not  transferred  at  all,  although  they  are  balanced  every  month. 

We  now  come  to  the  book-keepers'  bug-a-boo,  the  "Trial  Balance". 
This  is  a  simple  thing  (to  describe),  consisting  merely  going  through  our 
ledger,  taking  the  total  of  all  the  totals  on  the  credit  side  of  all  .otir,  ledger 
accounts  and  seeing  if  this  equals  the  total  of  all  the  totals  on  the  $ebit 
side.  If  these  totals  do  not  agree,  the  book-keeper  must  run  down  tin- 
error  and  correct  it.  There  are  no  rules  for  this  procedure  that  would  be 
of  practical  benefit.  This  trial  balance  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the 
ledger  is  correct,  it  simply  proves  that  for  every  debit  item  entered  a  cor- 
responding credit  entry  has  been  made;  it  does  not  prove  that  these  entries 
have  been  made  in  the  proper  accounts. 

A  sample  trial  balance  sheet,  worked  out  by  Mr.  Parker,  cashier  of  the 
Fort  Slocum  Exchange,  is  shown  herewith. 

After  the  ledger  is  balanced,  we  proceed  to  get  out  our  monthly  state- 
ment. If  it  is  a  case  of  an  inspector,  we  can  get  all  the  data  he  needs  by 
simply  taking  our  statements  since  his  last  visit  and  combining  the  results 
shown  by  same. 


80 


Cash  Statement 

U 

POST  E> 

CHANGE  METHODS 

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Post  Exchange 
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Bills  Pav  Merchandise 

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POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  81 

MONTHLY  STATEMENTS. 


General. 


The  primary  object  of  the  monthly  statement  is  to  give  the  Exchange 
Council  and  the  Commanding  Officer  a  clear  and  concise  understanding  of 
the  operations  and  financial  standing  of  the  Exchange.  The  statement, 
therefore,  should  be  so  simple  in  construction  that  it  can  be  understood  at 
a  glance  by  anybody,  regardless  of  their  knowledge  of  book-keeping.  Most 
statements  submitted  to  Exchange  Councils  either  show  nothing  or  lead 
to  a  waste  of  time,  due  to  the  necessity  for  asking  for  explanations  of 
obscure  items.  The  statement  should  also  contain  such  information  as 
will  be  required  by  the  Inspector.  The  form  of  statement  here  shown 
fulfils  all  of  the  above  requirements  and  is  a  form  approved  by  certified 
public  accountants.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts,  which  will  be  discussed 
in  their  relative  order. 

General  Balance  Sheet. 

This,  Form  32,  is  shown  in  Fig.  31  and  is  almost  self  explanatory.  At- 
tention is  invited  to  the  scheme  of  segregating  different  classes  of  assets 
and  of  liabilities.  A  stock  form  of  this  nature  would  do  for  all  Exchanges, 
regardless  of  their  size,  as  there  are  sufficient  blank  lines  to  suit  all  re- 
quirements, but  perhaps  better  satisfaction  would  be  obtained  if  the  form 
here  shown  be  merely  taken  as  a  model  and  only  those  items  be  used  as 
apply  to  the  particular  case  in  hand.  Pains  have  been  taken,  in  this  form, 
to  insert  a  sufficient  number  of  entries  to  show  clearly  how  any  ordinary 
item  should  be  handled. 

Of  course,  the  item,  "Exchange  building",  should  be  omitted  if  the 
building  belongs  to  the  Government  and  not  to  the  Exchange.  The  item, 
"Cash  Reserve",  covers  the  amount  required  by  regulations  to  be  set  aside 
before  dividends  can  be  declared.  Under  the  liabilities,  there  will  ordi- 
narily be  no  entries  under  "Funded  Debt";  this  entry  merely  shows  how  such 
items  should  be  handled  in  case  any  should  exist.  "Commissions  due"  is 
the  amount  we  owe  for  goods  already  sold  on  consignment ;  the  same  item 
under  the  assets  refers  to  the  amount  due  us  for  goods  sold  on  consignment 
or  commission.  A  declared  dividend  is  a  liability  until  it  is  paid.  Out- 
standing coupons  are  also  a  liability.  Under  the  deferred  liabilities  come 
any  amounts  that  are  payable  at  some  future  date,  but  are  meanwhile  bona 
fide  debts  owed  by  the  Exchange.  The  term  "Total  Surplus"  refers  to  the 
surplus  at  the  end  of  the  month  in  question,  and,  while  not  really  a 
liability,  it  is  put  in  this  place  in  order  to  properly  balance  the  account. 


82 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


GEre/IL   BOUNCE   MEET  /IS  Of 

o 

o 

A5*SET5                                       LIABILITIES 

INYE5TFD   A^fTS: 

FUflDFD    DFRT: 

Exchdnqe  Buildinq 

Mortqaqe.  etc. 

Exchange  Fixtures 

TOT/U    FUfNfD    DfBT 

Laundry    Buildmq 

CURREMT    LIAB!LITIf5: 

Laundry    Fixtures 

Bills    Payable.  Mdse. 

TOTAL    INVE6TED  A6SET5 

Cr  Balancei    on   fleets 

CURRENT    /QSSETS. 

Outstandinq   'Coupons 

Cash    Reserve 

Commiisions  due 

Cther  Cash 

Dividends,  etc..  unpaid 

B  R    Charge    /lt£ount_s_ 

Coupons 

Enl.  Hen    Laundry 

Motes 

nlerest    due  from    Banks 

nvcntnrifii 

Commisjions  due. 

TOTflL  CURREMT  /156ET5 

TOTAL  CURREttT  LIABILITIES 

bfrt'kfttD  ASiETi; 

DEFERRED    LIABILITIES: 

Unexpired     Iniur.    Premiums 

Accrued  -  Interest    on    Debt 

Periodicals  paid  in  advance 

Tsices,  Water,  eic. 

Telephone    oervice.  same 

fjcperuw.Wacjei.etc 

Blclcj    Plans,  iame 

Rents  charged   but  not  earned 

TOTflL   DEFERRED  /155ET.5 

TOTAL   DEFERRED  LIABILITIES 

0  AL  SURPLUS 

TOTflL    ASSETS 

TOTAL    LIABILITIES 

SURPLUS     AHD    ADJUSTMENTS 

Surplus  at   1st   of  month 

o 

0 

Adjustment  of   (account) 

Bad  accounts   drojiped 

Net    Profit    for  month 

Adjustment  of  (account) 

Dividends     oaid 

Appropriated   for 

| 

TOTAL    DEDUCTIONS 

5URPLU5   AT  END   OF    MONTH 

CERTIFIED    CORRECT' 

QhECKED: 

EXCHflMGE    OFFICER. 
Form  32    PE 

AUDITOR.*. 

Figure  31,  (Reduced  in  size) 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  83 

Surplus  and  Adjustments. 

Under  this  head,  we  show  the  changes  in  the  net  worth  of  the  Ex- 
change which  have  occurred  during  the  month,  this  being,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  a  repetition  of  the  Post  Exchange  Account  in  our  general 
Ledger. 

Under  "Re-valuation",  take  up  any  increase  in  the  value  of  buildings  or 
fixtures  that  may  have  occurred  other  than  through  the  cash  book  (upon 
appraisal,  for  instance).  Under  "Adjustment",  take  up  any  increase  of 
amount  owed  us  on  any  account,  that  is,  if  any  account  has  been  corrected 
during  the  month  and  the  amount  due  us  on  this  account  has  been  in- 
creased, the  amount  of  such  increase  should  be  taken  up  under  the  head  in 
question.  The  net  profits  for  the  month  are  obtained  from  the  Statement 
of  Income  and  Profit  and  Loss,  to  be  described  later.  All  of  the  above 
items  serve  to  increase  our  surplus  or  net  worth,  and  hence,  must  be  added 
to  the  net  worth  shown  at  the  beginning  of  the  month. 

Under  the  deductions  would  come  all  amounts  written  off  for  deprecia- 
tion ;  dividends  actually  paid ;  appropriations  paid  or  put  to  the  credit  of 
any  particular  fund,  such  as  the  Athletic  Fund;  and  all  decreases  in 
accounts  owed  us,  caused  by  the  adjustment  of  same. 

After  the  above  notations  are  made,  the  surplus  at  the  end  of  the 
month  is  entered  in  the  proper  space  in  the  general  balance  sheet.  This 
surplus  is  the  net  worth  of  the  Post  Exchange,  and  should,  of  course,  be 
equal  to. the  balance  of  the  Post  Exchange  account  in  the  Ledger. 

Statement  of  Income  and  Profit  and  Loss. 

This,  Form  16,  gives  us  a  very  clear  and  concise  statement  of  the 
operations  of  all  of  our  departments  during  the  month.  It  is  printed  on 
the  back  of  Form  '32.  It  is  filled  in  as  follows  : — 

a  Enter  on  the  first  line,  the  total  sales  for  cash  as  shown  by  the  foot- 
ings of  the  respective  debit  columns  in  the  cash  book. 

b  On  the  second  line,  enter  the  total  coupon  sales  of  the  various  de- 
partments shown  by  the  footings  of  the  respective  columns  of  Form  26 
(Fig.  17). 

c  On  the  third  line,  enter  the  total  charge  sales  made  by  each  depart- 
ment as  shown  by  the  footings  of  the  respective  columns  of  Form  7 
(Fig.  6). 

d  Add  the  above,  both  horizontally  and  vertically  and  see  if  the  grand 
totals  check. 


84 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


0 

o 

0 

o 

STATEHEUT  OF  INCOME  /1HD  PROFIT  AND  L055  FOR  

OFFICE 

STORE 

LUNCH 

MARKET 

BREflO 

ICE 

600/1 

SALES:   Cash 

Coupons 

Charge 

TOTflL 

Deduct  Credits 

NET    SALES 

Inventory              1st 

/1DD:  Purchases 

Labor 

Maintenance 

Board 

Expense 

Total 

DEDUCT:  Inventory 

• 

"H\M  OP  GOOH6  «bOL  0 

GROSS    PROFIT 

Tfi.\i(' 

| 

Bfl^E 

R 

COEB 

£R 

5TK.  RO 

fl 

LAUNC 

RY 

JOTA 

L 

5ALE5:  CASH 

Coupons 

Charqe 

TOTAL 

Deduct  Credits 

ME  r    SALES  ^ 

Inventory          1st 

/ROD:  Purchases 

Labor 

Maintenance 

Board 

Expense 

Total 

Deduct  Inventory 

'OiT  CF  GOODS  S0CD 

GROi5  PROFIT 

OTHER      INCOME 

GENERrlL     EXPEM5E 

Cash    discounts 

iilarits     not   distributed 

Cash  in   ejcce-ss   of  checks 

Printing,  postage,  stationery 

Goods  sold  on  consignment 

express  and  freight  out 

Miscellaneous    creditj 

nsurance 

Interest    on    Bank    balances 

Car    fares 
Periodic^  s 

Fuel   4nd     lic,ht 
Paid    on    consignment 

TOTAL    OTHER    INCOME 

OTAL    GENERAL    EKPEN5E 

Total  qrosb  profit    above 

Net  profit    for  month,  to  surplus 

jR055     iNc^f^E 

GR!5S    INCOME 

Figure  32,  (Reduced  in  size) 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  85 

c     Enter  on  the  fourth  line  all  credits  given  during  the  month. 

/  Subtract  c  from  d ;  the  remainder  shows  the  net  sales  made  by  each 
department  during  the  month  and  should  be  entered  in  the  proper  spaces. 

g  Under  "Inventory 1st",  is  entered  the  cost  price  of  all  mer- 
chandise on  hand  in  the  various  departments  at  the  beginning  of  the  month, 
which  amounts  are  obtained  from  the  Inventory  Book  or  Inventory  cards 
as  before  described. 

h  Under  "Purchases"  are  entered  the  cost  values  of  all  merchandise 
sent  to  the  various  departments,  that  is,  the  difference  between  the  footings 
of  the  Dr.  and  Cr.  columns  referring  to  each  department  on  Form  13  (Cost 
Price).  No  cash  discount  is  considered. 

z  Under  "Labor",  charge  each  department  with  its  proper  share  of  the 
wages  paid  by  the  Exchange.  If  any  employee  divides  his  time  between 
two  or  more  departments,  his  wages  should  be  distributed  between  said 
departments  proportionately.  Book-keeper's  wages  should  be  charged  to 
Office.  To  counterbalance  this  charge,  some  Exchanges  credit  all  cash 
discounts  to  Office  instead  of  taking  them  up  under  Other  Income.  This  is 
entirely  proper,  as  is  also  the  procedure  of  crediting  the  Office  with  mail 
order  profits,  etc.  In  the  usual  case,  there  being  no  accrued  wages,  the 
figures  for  labor  are  taken  from  the  Labor  column  in  the  cash  book. 

j  Under  "Maintenance",  transfer  from  the  cash  book  all  amounts  paid 
out  for 

(1)  Articles  bought  to  replace  other  similar  articles  worn  out. 

(2)  Paints,  cleaning  material  or  repairs  and  spare  parts,  etc. 

(3)  Labor  charges  in  connection  with  the  foregoing. 

(4)  In  general,  any  expenditure  for  up-keep. 

k  Under  "Board",  should  be  entered  all  amounts  paid  out  for  board  of 
employees. 

/  Under  "Expense",  enter  the  value  of  all  expendable  supplies  issued 
to  the  various  departments,  such  as  paper  bags,  etc.,  or,  as  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  a  Laundry,  the  cost  of  all  soaps,  starch,  soda,  etc.  . 

m  Add  items  (g)  to  (I),  inclusive,  and  enter  the  totals  on  the  proper 
line.  Also,  add  the  items  horizontally  and  check  the  grand  totals  obtained 
by  these  two  operations. 

n  Enter  under  "Deduct  Inventory",  the  cost  price  of  all  articles  found 
on  hand  in  the  various  departments  at  the  end  of  the  month. 

o  Subtract  (n)  from  (m)  and  enter  the  respective  remainders  in  the 
spaces  for  "Cost  of  Goods  Sold".  Check  these  remainders  vertically  and 
horizontally. 


86  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

p  Subtract  the  Cost  of  Goods  Sold  from  Net  Sales  and  enter  the  re- 
mainders in  the  -spaces  for  "Gross  Profit".  Check  results  as  before. 

The  lower  part  of  this  form  is  made  out  as  follows  : — 

a  Under  "Cash  Discounts"  (unless  credited  to  Office  as  before  ex- 
plained), enter  the  total  of  the  Discounts  column  in  the  cash  book. 

b     Cash  in  excess  of  daily  checks  is  self  explanatory. 

c  Under  "Goods  Sold  on  Consignment",  should  be  entered  all  such 
sales  actually  made  during  the  month. 

d  Miscellaneous  credits  is  self  explanatory,  being  for  such  items  as 
junk,  receptacles  sold,  etc.,  as  are  not  credited  through  the  stock  records. 

e  Entrance  fees  cover  all  payments  by  organizations  joining  the  Ex- 
change. 

/     Interest  on  Bank  balances  is  self  explanatory. 

g  Lost  Accounts  collected  refers  to  amounts  that  have  previously  been 
dropped  from  the  books  as  lost,  but  have  afterwards  been  collected. 

h  Under  "Income  not  otherwise  accounted  for",  is  entered  the  amount 
that  will  make  the  books  balance.  As  it  is  impracticable  to  give  precise 
weights  on  bulk  merchandise  and  as  mistakes  will  sometimes  occur,  the 
books  will  never  balance  exactly  and  all  discrepancies  are  thrown  into  this 
item.  As  an  example,  suppose  we  unintentionally  give  short  weights  on 
our  sales  of,  say,  crackers.  At  the  end  of  the  month,  we  will  have  more 
money  on  hand  than  our  sales  would  call  for,  and  such  excess  is  taken  up 
under  this  heading.  If,  as  sometimes  happens,  there  is  a  deficit  (for  ex- 
ample, caused  by  melting  and  wastage  of  ice)  it  should  be  taken  up  under 
the  "General  Expense"  side  of  this  form.  It  should  be  noted  that  this 
item  cannot  be  filled  in  until  the  General  Balance  Sheet  is  made  out. 

i  "Freight  and  Express  Out"  refers  to  transportation  charges  on 
goods  returned  to  our  creditors  or  sold  to  our  customers. 

j  Under  the  item,  "Insurance",  should  be  entered  the  total  premiums 
paid  out  during  the  month,  but  not  the  pro-rata  share  that  is  charged  off 
monthly. 

k  Under  "Paid  on  Consignment",  should  be  entered  the  net  amounts 
paid  to  our  creditors  for  the  goods  sold  by  us. 

/  To  the  Total  Gross  Profit,  add  the  total  Other  Income,  from  this 
amount,  subtract  the  Total  General  Expense  and  the  remainder  is  the  net 
profit  for  the  month;  it  should  be  carried  to  the  Surplus  and  Adjustment 
part  of  the  general  balance  sheet. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


87 


PAY  ROLLS. 

A  thoroughly  satisfactory  form  for  pay  rolls  is  shown  by  Form  2  in 
Fig.  33.  The  Recapitulation  at  the  bottom  of  the  form  is  for  the  purpose 
of  distributing  the  cost  of  labor  among  the  various  departments  when  we 


§ 


b 

SM 

3  s  8 


Figure  33,  (Reduced  in  size) 


88  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

make  out  our  statement  of  income  and  profit  and  loss.  If  employees  are 
not  paid  up  to  date,  that  is,  if  a  part  of  their  pay  due  is  withheld,  this  form 
allows  such  information  to  be  recorded.  In  some  cases,  it  has  been  found 
practicable  to  pay  off  three  times  a  month,  especially  in  the  case  of  civilian 
employees.  In  any  case,  all  hands  should  be  paid  promptly  at  the  last  of 
the  month,  thus  getting  all  of  these  wages  out  of  the  way  and  avoiding  the 
necessity  of  any  reversing  entries  or  other  expedients  to  show  the  real 
operations  of  the  Exchange.  If  any  wages  due  the  employees  are  not  paid 
by  the  end  of  the  month,  these  amounts  become  "accrued  wages"  and  must 
be  carried  as  such. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  89 

FIGURING  SELLING  PRICES. 

This  is  done  by  some  employee  designated  by  the  Exchange  Officer; 
sometimes  it  is  done  by  the  Exchange  Officer  himself.  It  is  sometimes 
prescribed  by  the  Council  that  when  organizations  (shareholders  in  the 
Exchange)  order  articles  not  in  stock,  the  selling  price  shall  be  actual  cost 
to  the  Exchange  of  such  articles.  This  cost  would,  of  course,  include  any 
transportation  charges,  etc.,  that  were  incurred,  but  the  Exchange  would 
get  the  benefit  of  all  cash  discounts.  It  is  also  prescribed  in  some  in- 
stances that  persons  not  stockholders  in  the  Exchange  who  order  mer- 
chandise that  is  not  in  stock  shall  be  charged  a  commission  of  5%.  Both 
of  these  rules  are  sound,  because,  in  the  first  case,  any  profits  made  by  the 
Exchange  would  simply  revert  in  dividends  to  the  organizations  from 
which  the  profits  were  made,  assuming  that  all  organizations  transacted 
the  same  amount  of  this  kind  of  business.  If  they  did  not,  it  would  still 
be  unjust  to  penalize  one  company  for  patronizing  the  Exchange  by  taking 
from  it  money  for  distribution  in  dividends  to  other  companies,  regardless 
of  the  amount  of  patronage  the  latter  gave  the  Exchange.  The  second 
rule  is  sound  because  the  transaction  is  a  quick  sale,  and  the  money  of  the 
Exchange  is  tied  up  in  stock  for  the  minimum  length  of  time.  The  selling- 
price  in  the  above  cases  is,  therefore,  very  easily  determined. 

In  figuring  out  the  selling  price  for  the  ordinary  run  of  goods,  the 
process,  while  different,  is  never  very  difficult.  We  must  base  our  calcu- 
culations  on  the  smallest  value  used  in  coupon  sales,  except  in  the  case  of 
staples  sold  only  to  charge  customers.  Ordinarily,  the  smallest  purchase 
that  can  be  made  with  coupon  books  is  five  cents.  We  should,  therefore, 
in  every  possible  case,  make  our  selling  price  a  number  divisible  by  5. 
Cheap  articles  may  be  sold  "2  for  3",  etc.  It  is  a  bad  policy  to  sell  articles 
for  4  or  9  cents  and  have  the  clerk  Land  back  change  when  a  coupon  sale 
is  made. 

Articles  that  can  be  quickly  and  easily  sold  can  be  handled  at  a  small 
margin  of  profit,  but  articles  that  may  prove  to  be  "stickers"  or  those  rep- 
resenting a  considerable  investment  should  be  made  to  pay  a  larger  profit. 

In  this  connection,  the  general  policy  of  the  Exchange  may  be  made  to 
take  one  of  two  trends.  The  first  policy  is  to  sell  all  articles  at  the 
minimum  price  consistent  with  making  the  Exchange  self-supporting.  In 
this  case,  the  amounts  paid  to  the  organizations  in  dividends  will  be  pro- 
portionately small,  and  consequently,  the  various  companies  will  receive 
little  money  to  spend  on  their  messes,  athletics,  etc.  This  plan  would  be 
of  considerable  benefit  to  such  customers  <>f  the  Exchange  as  are  not 
stockholders. 


90  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

The  other  policy  is  to  charge  about  the  same  prices  as  obtain  in  the 
stores  of  nearby  towns.  In  some  cases  of  isolated  posts,  the  prices  could 
be  put  even  higher.  This  plan  would  result  in  larger  dividends  paid  to 
the  companies  but  might  entail  the  loss  of  customers,  especially  in  these 
days  of  mail-order  and  catalogue  houses.  This  latter  policy  is  upheld  by 
many  able  authorities,  especially  since  the  passage  of  the  "anti-canteen" 
law.  According  to  one  of  the  most  able  officers  the  writer  has  ever  known, 
this  policy  was  stated  about  as  follows  : — "We  should  charge  as  high  a 
price  as  the  traffic  will  stand.  I  do  not  want  my  men  to  spend  their 
money  in  town,  for  obvious  reasons.  I  want  them  to  spend  it  where  they 
themselves  will  get  the  benefit  of  the  profits  made  on  their  purchases. 
Therefore,  give  them  good  value  for  their  money — as  good  as  they  can  get 
anywhere— but  do  not  try  for  low  prices  and  do  make  the  Exchange  so 
attractive  that  they  will  naturally  gather  there  and  patronize  it." 

In  view  of  the  above  facts,  and  knowing  the  general  policy  of  the 
Exchange  it  is  not  difficult  in  the  ordinary  case,  to  fix  a  selling  price  for 
our  goods.  We  simply  add  the  cost  of  transportation  to  the  cost  price 
of  the  goods,  add  the  desired  profit  and  this  gives  us  our  approximate 
selling  price.  In  some  Exchanges,  other  items  of  overhead  charges,  such 
as  clerk  hire,  depreciation,  etc.,  are  taken  into  consideration  in  fixing  the 
selling  price.  There  should  be  ample  space  in  the  right  hand  columns  of 
Form  28,  the  receiving  record,  in  which  to  figure  the  selling  prices. 

One  of  the  results  to  be  tried  for  in  every  Exchange  is  QUICK 
SALES.  It  is  a  serious  mistake  to  keep  money  tied  up  in  stock  any  longer 
than  is  absolutely  necessary.  A  vivid  illustration  of  this  point  is  obtained 
by  taking  the  case  of,  say,  an  Italian  banana  vendor  on  the  street.  Let  us 
assume  that  he  buys  a  bunch  of  bananas  in  the  morning  for  $1.00.  We 
may  rest  assured  that  he  will  have  sold  out  by  evening;  it  is  a  certainty; 
he  is  too  good  a  merchant  to  do  otherwise.  Even  supposing  that  he  had 
a  bad  day,  and  was  compelled  to  close  out  part  of  his  stock  in  the  evening 
at  cut  prices,  he  will  have  realized  anywhere  from  $1.50  to  $2.00  on  his 
sales,  thus  giving  him  from  25%  to  50%  gross  profit.  At  this  rate,  he  will 
turn  over  his  capital  at  least  25  times  during  one  month,  thus  transacting 
a  total  amount  of  business  25  times  greater  than  his  actual  net  resources, 
and  securing  a  profit  equivaelnt  to  that  of  the  greater  amount.  This  is  the 
ideal  toward  which  the  Exchange  should  strive. 

In  this  connection,  do  not  state  your  profits  as  a  percentage  of  the 
COST  price  of  your  goods,  but  of  the  SELLING  price.  In  other  words, 
if  an  article  costs  the  Exchange  $10.00,  do  not  add  one  dollar  to  this  for 
the  selling  price  and  then  imagine  your  profits  will  be  10%  of  your  sales. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  91 

If  you  desire  10%  profit,  then  the  cost  must  constitute  90%  and  you  must 
sell  the  article  for  $11.11  in  order  to  make  10%  on  the  sale.  Take  a 
pencil  and  figure  it  yourself.  A  very  good  talk  on  this  subject  (and  many 
others  of  interest)  is  given  in  "A  Better  Day's  Profits",  published  by  the 
Burroughs  Adding  Machine  Company. 

Another  most  excellent  book  containing  many  hints  which  would  prove 
of  value  to  any  Exchange  Officer  is  one  entitled,  "Where  Have  My  Profits 
Gone?",  published  by  the  American  Sales  Book  Company  of  Elmira,  New 
York. 


92  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

LAUNDRIES. 

Many  Exchanges  run  laundries  and  while  no  attempt  will  be  made 
here  to  show  how  a  laundry  should  be  handled,  it  is  thought  proper  to 
explain  how  the  books  should  be  kept.  The  handling  of  actual  laundry 
work  can  be  learned  only  by  experience  and  it  is  an  exceedingly  difficult 
task  to  prevent  a  flood  of  complaints  unless  careful  supervision  and  check- 
ing is  in  force. 

As  far  as  the  Post  Exchange  Books  are  concerned,  the  Laundry  need 
furnish  but  three  items  : — 

(1)  The   amount   owed    by   each    customer    for    laundry    work    done 
during  the  month. 

(2)  The  total  value  of  expendable  articles  on  hand  at  the  end  of  each 
month.     (Inventory.) 

(3)  The  data  for  paying  the  wages  of  employees. 

Any  other  records  that  may  be  kept  are  for  the  information  of  the  Laun- 
dry management,  and  are  not  essential  to  the  proper  running  of  the  Ex- 
change. The  above  three  headings  will  be  discussed  in  turn. 

Bills  Receivable  for  Laundry  Work. 

The  methods  used  in  the  case  of  enlisted  men  differ  from  those  used 
in  the  case  of  Officers  and  others  of  like  classification;  the  former  is  rate 
work  and  the  latter  is  piece  work.  The  former  will  be  explained  first. 

The  system  about  to  be  explained  hinges  about  the  Laundry  List, 
Eorm  20,  shown  in  Fig.  34.  These  are  5x8  inches  in  size,  made  up  in 
pads  of  100,  fifty  originals  printed  in  black  ink  on  white  paper  and  fifty 
duplicates  printed  in  red  on  white  paper.  Thus,  each  book  or  pad  will  last  one 
man  about  one  year.  Each  original  and  duplicate  are  on  the  same  piece 
of  paper,  folded  at  the  bottom  and  the  lower  (duplicate)  forms  are 
bound  by  their  top  edges,  a  piece  of  carbon  paper  being  bound  into  each 
pad  so  as  to  fall  between  the  two  copies.  A  glance  at  a  "Paragon"  style 
of  duplicating  sales  book  will  show  clearly  how  this  simple  arrangement 
works.  The  backs  of  all  sheets  should  be  fairly  well  covered  with  ad- 
vertising or  other  matter  in  order  to  prevent  persons  from  ekeing  out 
their  supply  of  stationery  by  using  these  forms.  If  desired,  the  instruc- 
tion shown  on  the  face  of  the  blank  in  the  illustration  could  be  placed  on 
the  back  instead.  In  quantities  of  1,000  or  so,  these  books  should  cost  in 
.the  neighborhood  of  7  cents  apiece. 

With  this  arrangement,  each  man  makes  out  two  copies  of  his  laundry 
list  with  as  little  trouble  as  he  formerly  made  out  his  single  copy.  The 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


93 


COMPANY 


NAME 


DATE 


LAUNDRY  MO, 


THIS  COLUMN  IS 
FOR  USE  OF 
LAUNDRY  ONLY 

SENT 

ITEMS 

REC'D 

RETD 

AMOUNT 

MARKING  O.  K. 

BREECHES,  C.  O.  D. 

•s 

COATS,  C  0.  D. 

'--''EXTENDED  BY 

COATS,  ..DENIM 
COLLARS 





POSTED  BY 

CUFFS,  PRS. 

D 

CO 

DC  

DRAWERS 

ARTICLES  DAT/AGED 

IU 
I 

GLOVES,  PRS. 

O 
0 

HANDKERCHIEFS 

z 

Q 

MATTRESS  COVERS 

Z 

PILLOW  CASES 

z  

SHEETS 

o 
o  _.-  

co 

SHIRTS,  CIV.   __ 
SHIRTS,  UNDER 



H 
LU 

SHIRTS,  W.  O.  D. 

co  

D 

SOCKS,  PRS. 

TOWELS,  FACE 

D 

TOWELS,  BATH 

TROUSERS  DENIM 

*s 

"THIS  LIST  MUST  BE  SENT  TO  THE  LAUNDRY  IN  DUPLICATE 

Regular  customers  30  cents  p*r  week.  No  rebate  for  weeks  lost  during  the  month. 
J5  pieces,  not  counting  handkerchiefs,  will  be  allowed  as  one  week's  work.  J  pr.  of 
cuffs,  socks  or  the  like,  count  as  J  piece.  Handkerchiefs  free.  Excess  pieces  will  be 
charged  for  at  the  rate  of  2  cents  each.  More  than  one  suit  of  Khaki,  10  cents  per  piece. 
Soiled  clothes  will  be  collected  from  Company  porches  as  per  schedule,  and  men  who 
get  out  their  wash  late  may  have  to  wait  an  extra  week  for  their  work  to  be  returned. 
NO  CLAIM  FOR  LOSS  OR  DAMAGE  WILL  BE  ENTERTAINED  UNLESS 
MADE  WITHIN  48  HOURS  AFTER  RETURN  OF  CLOTHING  AND  ACCOM- 
PANIED  BY  THE  DUPLICATE  COPY  OF  THIS  LIST. 


Form  20,  P.  E.  11-14-14.  6oM. 


SOLDIERS'  LAUNDRY  LIST. 


Figure  34,  (Reduced  in  size) 


94  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

amount  of  clerical  labor  which  this  simple  expedient  obviates  is  simply 
enormous.  It  makes  the  system  practically  automatic  and  saves  labor 
costs  in  the  Laundry.  The  man  puts  both  copies  of  his  list  in  his  bag  of 
laundry,  and  the  laundry  wagon  calls  at  the  company  at  the  proper  time 
and  collects  same.  The  bag  of  wash  is  given  to  the  "Marker",  who  checks 
off  on  the  duplicate  slip,  all  wash  found  in  the  bag.  If  everything  is  right, 
the  marker  places  the  duplicate  slip  in  a  sorting  tray,  and  lays  the  original 
aside  to  be  filed.  If  the  list  contains  a  mistake,  the  whole  bundle  is  imme- 
diately placed  aside  and  is  not  touched  until  the  owner  has  been  sent  for, 
his  mistake  explained  to  him,  and  he  has  personally  corrected  both  copies 
of  the  list.  This  not  only  prevents  controversies,  but,  also,  makes  the  men 
careful  in  making  out  their  lists  in  order  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  visiting 
the  laundry  to  correct  their  lists. 

In  case  any  article  is  damaged  when  received  at  the  laundry,  it  is 
examined  to  see  if  it  is  properly  marked,  and  then  placed  aside  for  the 
inspection  of  the  Officer  in  charge.  This  point  will  be  touched  upon  later. 

The  duplicate  lists  remain  in  the  sorting  tray  behind  numbered  guides 
until  the  time  comes  to  sort  out  the  finished  wash  of  the  organization  to 
which  the  slips  belong.  When  "marking  in",  the  marker  either  uses  the 
space  "MARKING  O.  K."  provided  for  the  purpose,  or,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  we  depend  upon  the  personal  check  mark  she  places  opposite  each 
item  on  the  list.  This  marking  is  done  on  the  duplicate  list  only. 

When  the  finished  wash  is  sorted,  preparatory  to  delivery,  the  sorter 
makes  another  check  mark  (different  from  the  first  one)  opposite  each 
item  that  is  put  in  the  batch.  No  batch  is  allowed  to  go  out  with  a  short- 
age if  it  can  possibly  be  avoided;  if  any  article  is  held  for  re-washing,  it 
is  rushed  through  "special"  and  the  whole  bundle  belonging  to  that  par- 
ticular man  is  held  back  to  wait  for  it.  This  prevents  the  laundry  from 
acquiring  garments  belonging  to  customers.  If  this  is  not  done,  a  receipt 
for  the  shortage  should  be  delivered  to  the  customer  with  his  wash,  and 
a  duplicate  kept  as  a  sort  of  tickler,  to  insure  the  missing  articles  being 
put  in  the  next  batch  of  washing  received  from  and  done  up  for  that 
customer. 

The  original  slips  are  inserted  in  alphabetical  order  in  loose-leaf 
binders,  one  binder  for  each  organization.  These  binders  should  have  a 
2  inch  back  in  order  to  hold  one  month's  slips  conveniently.  They  form 
our  retained  record  and  are  invaluable  in  case  of  disputes.  The  duplicates 
are  given  to  the  men  when  they  come  for  their  wash.  While  it  is  a  great 
convenience  to  the  men  to  be  permitted  to  get  the  wash  of  their  friends, 
at  times,  it  has  been  found  that  this  privilege  is  abused.  In  such  a  case. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  95 

each  man  may  be  compelled  to  come  for  his  own  wash,  which  will  be  found 
to  have  a  salutary  effect.  Ordinarily,  it  is  sufficient  to  tear  off  the  top  of 
the  duplicate  slips  at  the  time  of  delivery,  thus  showing  that  the  wash  has 
been  called  for  and  delivered. 

At  the  beginning  of  each  month,  each  organization  makes  out  a  list 
of  the  men  in  the  company,  a  carbon  copy  of  Form  25  is  the  easiest  to 
furnish.  On  the  first  day  upon  which  any  organization  sends  wash  to 
the  laundry,  some  designated  N.C.O.  of  that  organization  marks  in  the 
first  blank  column  opposite  each  man's  name,  information  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  sent  laundry  on  that  date.  Such  entries  would  be  "YES"  (by 
using  a  rubber  stamp)  if  the  man  sent  laundry;  "S",  if  he  did  not,  through 
being  sick  in  hospital ;  "A",  meaning  temporarily  absent ;  "D",  meaning 
discharged,  etc.  When  the  batches  of  wash  belonging  to  this  organization 
are  received  at  the  laundry  and  each  bundle  or  batch  has  been  checked  as 
before  described,  the  entries  on  the  consolidated  list  are  checked  against 
the  original  laundry  slips  as  the  latter  are  being  placed  in  the  binders. 
This  is  to  insure  the  correctness  of  the  consolidated  list.  After  this  is 
done,  the  consolidated  list  is  returned  to  the  organization,  and  the  above 
operations  are  repeated  upon  every  succeeding  wash-day  during  the  month. 

At  the  end  of  the  month,  all  extras,  such  as  charges  for  pressing 
uniforms,  excessive  number  of  pieces  in  wash,  etc.,  are  charged  up  on  the 
original  lists,  the  totals  for  the  month  found  by  mental  addition  and  said 
total  entered  on  the  last  original  list  for  the  month  pertaining  to  each 
man,  also,  if  desired,  but  only  for  cogent  reasons,  on  the  consolidated  list. 
These  totals  are  then  sent  to  the  Post  Exchange  for  incorporation  in  the 
pay  table  collection  sheet.  If  the  binders  are  taken  to  the  Exchange,  the 
totals  can  be  read  from  them  without  the  necessity  of  entering  these  totals 
on  the  consolidated  list  at  all.  At  this  time,  all  of  the  original  lists  are 
lifted  from  their  binders,  temporarily  bound  with  twine,  and  sent  to  the 
Exchange  for  file  until  the  bills  are  paid,  when  they  may  be  destroyed. 

Piece  Work. 

In  this  case,  a  different  list  is  used.  See  Form  21,  shown  in  Fig.  35. 
These  lists  are  made  up  into  duplicating  pads  just  the  same  as  the  soldiers' 
laundry  lists,  and  are  handled  in  exactly  the  same  manner,  except  that  no 
consolidated  list  is  kept.  They  measure  5x8  inches,  like  the  others.  At 
the  end  of  the  month, 'the  amount  of  laundry  bills  on  each  retained  origi- 
nal list  is  carried  forward  and  the  total  entered  on  the  last  slip.  These 
totals  are  then  transferred  to  the  Charge  Accounts  Book  previously  de- 
scribed. (Tearing  a  half  inch  off  the  upper  right  hand  corner  of  all  but 
the  last  slip  for  the  month  for  each  customer  makes  the  binder  self- 
indexing.) 


96 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


MARK 
DATE 


NAME 
ADDRESS 


2-as 

SENT 

ITEMS 

RETO 

AMT 

SENT 

ITEMS 

RETD 

AM'T 

Jj| 



Bed  Spreads     .08 

Na 
Pit 
Sh 
"fa 
"to 
to 

pkins,         J^DT 
low  Slips  .OJ 

'•  — 

Bankets 

.J2 

£i;o6 

04-.J2 
-.3"  .07 
J5up. 
.OJ 
da  .01 

.... 

Blank'te,  a 
Centre  Pie's. 

lets                 .02 

E 





ble  Cloths     .04 

ofi! 



Counterpane 

Cort's-.Lace 



we  Is,  Bath    .OJ 
wels,  Face""'.OJ 

Doilies 

Hanckerch: 

Wash  Cloths    .01 

— 

WILY  LAUNDRY  LISO 

i  entertained  unless  made  within  48  hoars  after  r 
icate  of  this  slip.  Soiled  clothing  of  officers  and 
y  for  collection  by  9:00  A.  M.  Mondays.  All  1 









MEN'S  LIST 
Bath  Robes      .10 

WOMEN'S  AND 
CHILDREN'S 
LIST 

Aprons             .05 



Collars""'""' 

D..I5 

Be 
Ca 
Ch 
Co 
Co 
Dr 

Its             ___.02 
is,  Child's    .07 



.01 



CoTfn,  Prs. 

02. 

emises     .05-.  J  2 



Coats,  White    .J5 
Coats,C.O.D..J5 

rsct  Covers   .05 



tnbinations   .JO 



Drawers,  Cot.  .02 

awers      .05-.  JO 



Drawers,  Woo!  .05 
'Gloves,'  Prs.'  .OJ 



"     Child's  .03 

Dresses        .20-.50 

Nightshirts 

.06 
.02 

Ki 

Ni 
Ro 
Sh 

Sk 
St( 

s« 

Ur 
Ur 
Ur 

'  Child's  .06-  J  5 





Neckties 



monos            ,J5 



Pajam-.s,  Suits  .08 

jhtdres's  .06-  J  2 
mpers            .05 

Sock",  Prs. 

.02 

§|ll 

al-s 



Shirts,  Plain     .06 
Sorts',  Drew    ".08 



(rtwaists.JO-.iS 



trts,  Dack     .20 



Shirts,  Wool      .JJ 

>ckings,  Prs.  .03 



Stocks                .02 

Trousers,  White.  1  5 

its,  Child's    .JO 



dersk't's.JO-.20 

_ 

Un.  Shirts,Cot.-03 

dervests       .02 

ionsuits  JQ5 
liste,  Child's.  06 

"      "  Wool  .06 

Union  Suits      .05 



Vests 

.13 



.......... 



MARKING  0.  K. 

PLEASE  SEND  TfflS  LIST  TO  THE  LAUNDRY  IN  DUPLICATE 

For  lists  of  articles  damaged  when  received  and  of  articles  held  for  re-washing,  see 
back  of  this  sheet.    Please  so  Indicate  if  yo>a  wish  any  articles  rough  dry.    Rough  dry 
wash,  4c.  per  Ib. 
Form  ai.  P.  £.  11-16-14,  io-M. 


Figure  35,  (Reduced  in  size) 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


97 


The  above  shows  how  all  amounts  due  the  laundry  are  transferred  to 
the  Exchange  books,  but  there  are  one  or  two  points  in  this  connection 
that  deserve  at  least  a  passing  notice.  The  first  of  these  is  the 

Damage  Report. 

This,  Form  21,  shown  in  Fig.  36,  should  be  made  up  in  the  form  of  a 


To 

Date  

In  returning  this  wash   to  you  the    Laundry   management  respect- 
fully invites  attention  to  the  fact  that  one  or  more  of  the    articles  were 
damaged  when  received  at  the  Laundry.     Rather  than  cause  you  a  de- 
lay,   or  take   up  your   time   unnecessarily,    these   articles    have   been 
laundered   with   the  rest   of  your   wash.     This  slip  is  furnished  you  in 
order  that  the  damages  may  not  be  thought  due  to  careless  handling  by 
our  employees.     General  character  of  damages  is  indicated  below:  — 



Insf).  

FORM  24.  P.  E.                                                                         IN  CHARGE  OF  LAUNDRY 

Figure  36,  (Reduced  in  size) 

duplicating  pad,  3x5  inches  being  a  standard  size.  One  copy  of  this 
form,  preferably,  the  original,  is  retained  in  the  book  or  filed  in  a  card 
index  drawer;  the  duplicate  is  returned  to  the  proper  customer  with  his 
wash  in  which  the  damaged  articles  were  found.  As  before  noted,  when 
damaged  clothing  is  found  in  any  wash  during  the  "marking  in"  process, 
the  damaged  articles  are  placed  aside.  They  are  then  entered  on  this  form, 
inspected  by  the  officer  in  charge,  or  person  designated  by  him,  and  then 
sent  through  the  wash. 


98  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

Claim  Settlements. 

When  a  claim  for  damages,  loss,  etc.,  is  settled  in  favor  of  the  claimant 


NAME Co. Amt. 

Post  Exchange  Officer :- 

Please -credit  the  account  of-reimburse-the  above  named  person  to 
the  amount  shown,  and  charge  same  to  Laundry.    Cause  of  this  credit :- 


AMT.  &DATE, 

In  charge  of  Laundry 


FORM  22.  P.  E. 


Figure  37,  (Reduced  in  size) 

a  report  should  be  made  on  Form  22  (See  Fig.  37),  to  the  Post  Exchange. 
This  form  should  be  made  up  in  triplicating  pads,  one  copy  for  the  Ex- 
change book-keeper;  another,  plainly  stamped  "duplicate",  for  the  claimant, 
and  a  third  to  be  retained  by  the  Laundry,  either  in  the  book  or  in  a  card 
index  drawer,  preferably  the  latter. 

Inventories. 

These  are  taken  in  the  same  general  way  as  in  other  branches  of  the 
Exchange  except  that  the  cost  price  alone  is  considered.  When  finished, 
the  totals  shown  by  the  various  cards  are  added  on  the  machine  and  the 
result  given  to  the  Exchange  book-keeper  in  order  to  permit  him  to  make 
out  the  profit  and  loss  sheet.  The  cards  are  filed  in  a  card  index  drawer 
until  they  are  used  up,  when  they  may  be  transferred  to  a  dead  file. 

Pay  Rolls. 

These  are  handled  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  the  Exchange  pay 
roll.  They  may  be  made  out  separately  by  the  Laundry  authorities  or  in- 
corporated in  the  regular  Exchange  roll.  In  any  case,  they  should  be  made 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  99 

out  from  the  time  book  kept  by  the  Laundry  superintendent.     The  accu- 
racy of  this  book  should  be  checked  frequently  in  the  usual  ways. 

Miscellaneous  Laundry  Records. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  the  laundry  should  keep  accurate  track  of  the 
amounts  spent  in  repairs  or  renewals  of  each  machine  or  component  part 
of  the  laundry.  In  the  inventory  book  should  be  entered  a  proper  rate  of 
depreciation  against  each  machine,  etc.,  and  this  depreciation  should  be 
.written  off  periodically  by  the  Exchange  Council,  say  once  per  year.  Then, 
if  any  organization  wishes  to  sell  out  or  to  buy  in,  it  will  be  a  simple  matter 
to  arrive  at  a  proper  valuation  of  the  laundry  and  its  fixtures. 

There  should  be  on  hand  blueprints  of  the  laundry  building,  showing 
dimensions  and  details  of  construction.  There  should  also  be  on  hand  a 
complete  diagram  of  all  the  steam  and  water  pipes,  connections,  valves,  etc. 

For  cost-keeping,  which  would  be  desirable  if  it  can  be  done  con- 
veniently without  adding  too  much  cost,  other  records  would  have  to  be 
kept.  The  Baker- Vawter  Company  has  given  this  point  special  attention 
and  have  devised  a  system  which  is  used  by  many  members  of  the  Laundry- 
man's  National  Association. 

AUDITING. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  monthly  audit  of  the  Exchange 
books  is  usually  done  poorly  ..and  inefficiently.  This  is  due  to  several 
causes.  In  the  first  place,  very  few  officers  have  ever  had  experience 
fitting  them  for  such  a  task,  and  still  fewer  have  any  liking  for  the  opera- 
tion. The  average  audit  consists  of  counting  the  cash  and  seeing  if  the 
vouchers  to  the  cash  account  are  correct,  but  a  proper  audit  is  something 
different.  The  Council  should  expect,  as  a  result  of  the  audit,  a  clear 
statement  of  the  status  of  the  Exchange  together  with  recommendations 
for  improvement  and  reports  of  any  irregularities,  etc.  An  auditing  officer 
who  spends  his  time  finding  out  whether  or  not  the  books  contain  any 
mistakes  in  addition  is  not  performing  his  proper  functions  as  auditor. 

Reduced  to  its  simplest  terms  the  duties  of  an  auditor  may  be  expressed 
as  finding  the  correct  answers  to  the  following: — 

(a)  Were  all  assets  on  hand  as  shown? 

(b)  Were  there  any  assets  not  shown? 

(c)  Were  all  the  liabilities  real  ones 

(d)  Were  all  liabilities  shown? 

(c)     Were  all  liabilities  properly  incurred? 


100  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

(f)  Were  all  earnings  accounted  for? 

(g)  Were  any  earnings  omitted  from  the  statement? 

(h)  Were  all  disbursements,  expenses  and  losses  properly  stated  and 
supported? 

In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  lay  down  a  system 
of  procedure  which  will  enable  the  auditor  to  secure  proper  answers  to  the 
above  questions  in  the  most  expeditious  manner.  For  this  purpose,  the 
use  of  Form  33,  shown  below,  is  recommended.  They  should  be  on 
sheets  conforming  in  size  and  punching  to  those  used  in  the  book  used  for 
recording  the  proceedings  of  the  Exchange  Council.  This  remark  also 
applies  to  Forms  16  and  32,  previously  described. 

Form  No.  33. 
STATEMENT  OF  AUDIT  OF  POST  EXCHANGE,  FORT 

HANCOCK,  N.  J. 
For  the  month  ending  March  31,  1915. 

I  certify  that  the  cash  balance  of  the  Post  Exchange,  Fort  Hancock,  N  J., 
on  the  31st  day  of  March,  1915,  was  three  thousand  five  hundred  forty-two 
dollars  and  seventy-six  cents  ($3,542.76)  and  was  held  as  follows  : — 

Second  National  Bank,  New  York  City  $3,000.00 

In  Office  Safe  .  542.76 


TOTAI $3,542.76 

(Signed)     E.  A.  BROWN, 

ist  Lieut.,  C.  A.  C.,  Exchange  Officer. 

AUDITOR'S  STATEMENT. 

i.    Charge  Accounts: — 

Take  retained  sales  slips  for  at  least  three  different  days  and  select,  at 
random,  at  least  five  sales  on  each.     Are  these  sales  entered  on  Form  9  ? 

Compare  several  consecutive  sales  on  each  day's  record  with 

adding  machine  and  cash  register  strips Are  the  totals  for  each 

of  these  days  entered  on  the  Steward's  daily  report,  Form  4? 

Are  these  entries  on  Form  4  supported  by  clerks'  reports,  Form  5,  for 

same   totals  < Are   the    total    charge   sales    on   Form   4   correctly 

transferred  to  the  daily  summary  shown  on  Form  7? Do  they 

check  with   Form   6? Has   the   Bills   Receivable   account   in   the 

Ledger  been  debited  with   the  total   shown   on   Form   7  •: Have 

amounts  shown  on  Form  7  been  credited  to  the  various  departments  in  the 
Ledger? Have  all  credits  been  entered  on  Form  6? Are 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  101 

they  charged  against  the  various  departments? Are  they  credited 

to  Bills  Receivable  r Are  they  noted  on  Form  4? In 

separate  list,  show  what  bills  have  been  due  the  Exchange  for  more  than 
one  month. 

2.  Cash  Sales: — 

Take  the  clerks'  reports  for  the  above  selected  days :  are  the  cash 
sales  and  coupon  sales  shown  thereon  properly  entered  on  the  Steward's 

daily  report,  Form  4? Do  Forms  4  agree  with  the  cash  register 

records? Are  entries  on  Form  4  correctly  transferred  to  the  cash 

book? Are  totals  of  department  columns  in  cash  book  correctly 

posted  to  the  accounts  of  the  respective  departments  in  the  Ledger? 

3.  Coupon  Sales: — 

Do  the  total  coupons  sales  shown  on  Form  4  for  the  selected  days 

agree  with  the  cash  register  records  for  these  days? Are  entries 

on  Form  4  correctly  posted  to  Form  26? Are  total  coupon  sales 

for  each  department  shown  on  Form  26  credited  to  these  departments  in 

the  Ledger     Are  total  coupon  sales  debited  to  Check  Account  in 

the  Ledger? Are  coupon  books  on  hand  safely  stored? 

Are  they  correctly  accounted  for? What  value  of  coupons  issued 

during  the  month  of  which  there  is  no  record? Are  total  coupons 

issued    during    the    month    correctly    credited    to    Check    Account    in    the 

Ledger? Are    they    properly    debited    against    Bills    Receivable, 

Credit  Coupons? Is  there  any  ground   for  believing  the  stated 

value  of  coupons  outstanding  to  be  erroneous     Any  complaints 

from  men  that  they  are  erroneously  charged   for  coupons? Is 

total  cash  received  for  coupons   (shown  in  cash  book)   credited  in  Ledger 

to    Bills    Receivable,    Credit    Coupons  ? Deduct    from    the    total 

coupons  entered  on  all  Forms  25  the  amounts  shown  in  cash  book  as  re- 
ceived for  coupons;  is  the  remainder  properly  supported  by  unpaid  Forms 

19  ? Have  these  unpaid  amounts  been  properly  entered  on  Forms 

25  for  next  pay  day? What  efforts  made  to  collect  payments  on 

coupons  past  due  ? 

4.  Stock  Records:— 

Perform  or  check  the  following  operations  on  the  record  of  Stock 
Transactions,  Form  27,  at  selling  price  :— To  inventories  at  first  of  month 
add  all  stock  received  during  the  month,  subtract  from  this  the  inventory 
at  the  end  of  the  month.  The  remainder  should  equal  the  total  sales  from 
the  respective  departments  during  the  month.  Any  marked  discrepancies 
should  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Council  immediately.  (Initials) 
Check  several  copies  of  Form  28  against  corresponding  in- 
voices and  against  Purchase  Record ;  do  they  agree  Are  these 

values  correctly  transferred  to  Forms  17,   BOTH  at  cost  and  at  selling 

prices? Are  these  Forms  17  correctly  transferred  to  Form  27? 

Are  totals  on  Form  27  properly  charged  against  the  various  de- 
partments in  the  Ledger  and  on  the  Statement? Are  inventories 

entered  properly  in  each   department's   account  in   the  Ledger? 

Under  whose  supervision  was  stock  taken  at  the  last  of  the  month? 

Are  results  of  inventory  correctly  noted  on  Statement? Are  all 

wastages,   accidental   breakages,   etc.,   entered   on   the   stock   records   and 


102  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

properly  supported5 Are  windows  and  doors  of  Exchange  pro- 
vided   with    efficient    locks  ? Are    all    civilian    employees    under 

bond  ? Are  the  stock  records  kept  up  to  date  ? 

5.  Purchases: — 

Check   Purchase   Record   against   the   Cash    Book;    do   entries    corre- 
spond?       From  "Total  Purchases"  subtract  "Creditors"  column  in 

cash  book;  does  the  remainder  check  with  the  balance  shown  in  the  Bills 

Payable,    Merchandise    (or    Creditors)    account    in    the    Ledger; 

with  the  credit  balance  shown  on  the  Purchase  Record     Are  all 

bills   discounted? If   not,    is   there    any   excuse    for    it? 

Who  makes  purchases? 

6.  Cash  Book: — 

Check  all  vouchers  against  cash  book  disbursements.     Were  all   ex- 
penditures proper  ones? If  not,  give  particulars  under  remarks. 

(a)  The  following  vouchers  not  rec'd  back  

(b)  Vouchers  not  supported  by  canceled  checks  

(c)  Nos.  of  outstanding  checks   

(d)  Total  value  of  same   (c)     Cash  found  on  hand  at 

end  of  month 

(f)     Cash  in  bank  at  end  of  month,  per  bank  statement 

Does  total  of  (d),  (e)  and  (f)  agree  with  Statement? Look  up 

items  (a),  (b)  and  (c)  mentioned  in  preceding  audit,  are  they  now  com- 
plete ? State  items  lacking  

Does   Exchange   Officer  keep   the   cash   book   himself    Docs   lie- 
attend  personally  to  all  cash  transactions  ? Does  any  employee 

have  access  to  the  cash  after  it  is  turned  over  to  the  Exchange  Officer? 

Cash  reserve  is  $ 

/.    Ledger: — 

Inspect  trial  balance;  is  it  correct  and  does  the  Ledger  balance? 

Is  the  system  being  rigidly  adhered  to? Report  to  the  Council 

any  omissions  or  faults  found  in  the  manner  of  keeping  the  books. 

8.  Statements  and  Balance  Sheets: — 

Check  all  items  on  Statement  of  Income  and  Profit  and  Loss  against 

the  original  entries;   do  they  agree? What  earnings  cannot    In 

accounted  for? What  earnings  are  not  taken  up  on  the  books 

Check  all  entries  on  General  Balance  Sheet  against  the  original 

entries;  do  they  agree? Are  any  assets  left  off  the  books? 

Were  all  assets  actually  on  hand  as  shown? Arc  any  liabilities 

left  off  the  books? Among  the  liabilities  shown,  are  there  any 

which  are  not  real  obligations  of  the  Exchange? 

9.  General: — 

Is  copy  of   Steward's   Report  posted   for  information   of  customers 

Any  books  or  papers  which  should  be  destroyed? Any 

recommendations? If  so,  submit  them  to  Council  in  separate  re- 
port.    Remarks 

(Signed)      

Captain,  C.  A.  C.,  Auditor. 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  103 

CASH  REGISTERS. 

In  Post  Exchange  business,  these  machines  are  ordinarily  used  in  re- 
cording all  sales,  although  some  Exchanges  do  not  ring  up  their  charge 
sales,  hut  rely  upon  the  sales  slip  alone,  an  unsafe  practice.  There  is, 
besides,  a  saving  in  ringing  up  all  sales.  These  machines,  if  properly  handled, 
and  used  in  conjunction  with  our  stock  records  at  selling  price  should 
amply  protect  the  Exchange. 

In  order  to  secure  the  maximum  benefit  from  a  cash  register,  however, 
it  should  be  suited  to  the  work  in  hand.  Many  registers  handle  but  two 
kinds  of  sales,  charge  and  cash  ;  but  we  have  a  third  kind,  coupon  sales, 
and  the  registers  in  use  by  every  department  which  handles  all  three  kinds 
should  be  arranged  for  such  work.  This  kind  of  a  register  has  three 
separate  adding  mechanisms,  the  appropriate  set  being  thrown  into  mesh 
by  means  of  a  movable  clutch  and  indicator  at  the  left  of  the  keyboard. 
In  ringing  up  each  sale,  the  clerk  sets  the  indicator  at  "cash",  "coupons" 
or  "charge",  as  the  case  may  be,  before  turning  the  handle;  the  total  sales 
of  any  kind  can  be  read  at  any  time  by  anyone  possessing  the  key  which 
unlocks  the  reading  window.  Thus,  the  Steward,  at  the  close  of  business 
on  any  day,  can  ascertain  these  totals  in  a  few  seconds,  instead  of  having 
to  transfer  them  from  the  cash  register  record  tape  to  the  adding  machine. 
Thus,  considerable  time  and  labor  are  saved. 

We  should  also  be  able  to  tell  which  clerk  made  every  sale.  This  is 
accomplished  by  having  a  separate  push  button  for  every  clerk  and  re- 
quiring the  clerks  to  punch  the  proper  button  before  ringing  up  their  sale. 
The  record  tape  of  the  machine  will  then  show  the  full  particulars  of 
every  sale — how  much  it  was,  what  kind  of  a  sale  it  was  and  who  made  it. 

.  The  size  of  the  keyboard  is  determined  by  the  probable  value  of  the 
largest  sale.  In  departments  where  there  can  be  but  two  different  kinds 
of  sales,  say  charge  and  cash,  a  machine  without  the  movable  clutch  can 
be  used. 

A  modern  development  of  the  cash  register  is  the  "Slip  Printing"  de- 
vice. By  this,  we  mean  the  printing  of  the  amount  of  sale  on  the  sales  slip 
itself,  instead  of  on  the  "chop  ticket".  In  our  system  of  recording  charge 
sales,  where  the  customer  is  given  a  copy  of  the  sales  slip,  it  is  unnecessary 
for  him  to  have,  the  chop  ticket,  too,  but  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  know 
that  his  sales  slip  calls  for  the  same  amount  that  has  been  rung  up  on  the 
register.  For  this  purpose,  the  register  can  and  should  be  arranged  for 
"Slip  Printing",  that  is,  for  printing  directly  on  the  sales  slip  whatever 
amount  is  rung  up  on  the  register.  This  arrangement  can  be  made  without 


104 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


*A-5.25    -0001    juN-1- 


15 


AmmjMofjnrar^acti^ 


*A-525    -0001    JIM-MS 


Amount  of  Transaction 


Sale  Number 


Date 


TAYLOR   &   SON 

AGRICULTURAL    IMPLEMENTS,    WAGONS, 
CARRIAGES,  HARNESS,  ETC. 


Clerk OL.... 


sold  to                      !L 

Address 

/ 

^M/U^A    <%+4t- 

6' 

o-t 

(i^^^c^^a^L 

|f 

Jr 

^ 

If  printed  figures  do  not  agree  with  the  tutai   amount  of  your 
purchase,    kindly    return    this    slip 

POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 


105 


extra  cost  in  the  case  of  a  new  machine.  The  sales  slip  then  handed  to 
the  customer  then  shows  him  exactly  what  amount  was  rung  up  on  the 
register.  The  slip  shown  in  Fig.  1  was  treated  in  this  way,  although  the 
slip  was  not  originally  designed  for  this  work.  Another  slip  is  shown  in 
Fig.  38.  A  cash  register  embodying  the  above  described  characterstics  i- 
shown  in  Fig.  39. 


Figure  29 

It  is  apparent  that  if  we  can  be  sure  that  all  sales  are  rung  up  on  the 
register  the  Exchange  can  suffer  no  loss  except  by  persons  taking  stock 
from  the  shelves,  a  proposition  which  is  cared  for  by  our  stock  records. 
Therefore,  it  is  important  to  devise  means  for  insuring  that  every  sale  is 
properly  rung  up.  There  are  various  means  to  this  end.  One  is  to  pro- 
vide a  scries  of  locked  boxes,  one  for  each  organization  at  the  post,  each 


106  POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS 

provided  with  a  slit  in  the  cover  large  enough  to  admit  a  chop  ticket. 
These  boxes  to  be  plainly  labelled  with  the  designation  of  the  respective 
organizations,  and  all  customers  to  be  instructed  to  drop  their  chop  tickets 
into  these  boxes.  Whenever  dividends  are  declared,  a  certain  proportion 
of  same  to  be  divided  in  the  same  proportion  as  exists  among  the  total 
values  of  the  tickets  in  the  various  boxes.  Unless  these  tickets  are  counud 
by  a  committee  from  the  various  organizations,  this  scheme  would  entail 
considerable  clerical  work  for  the  Exchange  office  force.  The  scheme 
practically  amounts  to  distributing  a  part  of  the  dividend  according  to  the 
amount  of  business  done  by  the  respective  organizations — a  necessity  in 
the  rare  case  when  one  or  more  organizations  boycott  the  Exc:.;.n  ;e.  It  is 
said  that  the  members  of  the  various  organizations  soon  becun.c  efficient 
agents  in  promoting  the  practice  of  customers  demanding  the  chop  tickets 
from  the  clerks. 

Another  scheme  is  for  the  Exchange  Officer  to  inspect  the  serial  num- 
bers of  the  sales  recorded  for  a  certain  time,  say  one  month,  and  to 
arbitrarily  select  some  one  of  these  numbers,  publish  a  notice  concerning 
same,  and  to  present  to  the  person  who  produces  the  chop  ticket  bearing 
that  number,  a  credit  at  the  Exchange  of  $5.00  or  so.  The  Exchange  cni.M 
easily  afford  to  do  this,  as  the  advantages  accruing  from  having  every  sale 
rung  up  will  more  than  counterbalance  this  small  expenditure.  Other  de- 
vices will  readily  suggest  themselves  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
subject. 

The  Steward  should,  of  course,  keep  accurate  track  of  the  readings  of 
the  various  dials  of  the  registers.  Cash  register  companies  issue  books 
for  this  purpose.  The  keys  to  the  registers  should  be  jealously  guarded, 
including  those  to  the  reading  windows.  A  record  should  be  kept  of  the 
readings  of  those  dials  which  show  how  many  times  the  lid  of  the  register 
has  been  opened. 

In  leaving  this  subject,  a  further  discussion  of  which  is  necessarily 
curtailed,  it  will  be  well  to  add  that  the  best  way  to  get  satisfaction  in  this 
line  is  to  write  to  the  firm  whose  register  you  intend  buying  and  ask  them 
to  send  you  their  local  representative  and  such  descriptive  literature  as 
they  may  have  at  hand.  It  will  then  be  an  easy  matter  to  secure  a  machine 
exactly  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  case. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  the  foregoing  pages,  the  writer  has  attempted  to  outline  a  system  of 
record-keeping  for  our  Post  Exchanges  that  it  at  once  simple  and  efficient, 
complying  with  the  desiderata  set  forth  in  the  opening  pages.  No  conten- 


POST  EXCHANGE  METHODS  107 

tion  is  made  that  the  system  is  perfect  and  incapable  of  improvement;  but 
it  is  the  best  that  the  writer  has  seen  in  twelve  years'  experience  with  Post 
Exchanges.  It  is  hoped  that  it  will  at  least  prove  worthy  of  being  taken 
under  advisement  by  most  Post  Exchanges  and  many  of  its  points  put  into 
practice.  Strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  to  explain  the  system  in  such 
simple  language  that  the  average  employee  of  an  Exchange  could  install 
and  operate  it,  without  the  necessity  of  tfie  Exchange  Officer  devoting  his 
personal  efforts  to  it.  An  effort  Las  also  been  made  to  simplify  matters 
for  the  Exchange  Council  and  for  officers  detailed  to  audit  the  accounts,  to 
show  what  points  are  important  and  what  are  not,  how  to  secure  a  clear 
idea  of  what  the  business  is  actually  doing  in  all  iis  branches,  and  how  to 
prevent  leaks. 

THE  END. 


v 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


LD  21A-60m-4,'64 
(E4555slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


VC  24776 


342169 


UNIVERSE  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


